Home is Behind, the World Ahead
by SapphireShelle91
Summary: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit lass. A hobbit lass who had never been on any adventures or done anything unexpected. Her name was Billanna Baggins and on the morrow, she was to be married. A prequel story to my 'The Most Precious of Treasures' fanfic. Fem!Bilbo
1. In a hole in the ground…

**Author's Note:** So it's my birthday today and I thought now is as good a time as any to post this little project that I've been working on.  
I know re-writing the Hobbit book/movies has been done... a lot, but this is my take on it and it's been helping me with coaxing my muse for 'The Most Precious of Treasure's' to cooperate with me. We're speaking again, so clearly writing this story is helping. And I've always wanted to write this fic anyway, so... here is the start. I hope you all enjoy.

I'll try and update on a regular bases, maybe once a week. I'll figure out which day will be update day with the next chapter.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own The Hobbit. All characters, places and events mention in this fic belong Mister Tolkien, Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and WingNut Films.

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 **Chapter 1**

 **In a hole in the ground…**

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit lass. A hobbit lass who had never been on any adventures or done anything unexpected. Her name was Billanna Baggins and on the morrow, she would be wedded.

 _The biggest adventure of any lasses life_ , she had been told by many a female relative as they fussed contently over the details of the wedding that she herself had little to no control over.

She had smiled and nodded politely in return as her poor papa had taught her to do whenever she struggled to hold back her wicked tongue and instead turned her head back to the book in her lap or to simply gaze forlornly out of the window.

The truth of the matter was, Billanna Baggins – known better to close family and friends as Bilbo and how she will be referred to in this story – had no wish to marry. Especially not to the fellow who had been chosen to be her husband.

Lotho Sackville-Baggins…

Bilbo pulled a face and looked up from the book she had in her lap and was barely reading to stare out at the view she had of Hobbiton from the bench outside of her Hobbit-hole. It was usually her favourite place to read, for her to sit and allow her mind to wander but now… she would give anything to be somewhere else, to be in one of the places her mother had described to her as a child, Rivendell or even Bree, if it meant she would be away from the Shire and not married the next day.

 _You made your bed, Billanna Baggins_ , she could hear her cranky paternal grandmother chide; _now you must lie in it, for better or worse_.

 _Worse_ , she thought grimly _, marrying Lotho is certainly for the worst_.

But there was nothing to be done now, the preparations for the wedding had been completed, invitation sent – more than half the Shire was coming! – and the Sackville-Baggins' had all but tried to move into her nice Hobbit-hole. She had fought them on that; it was the only thing she had fought for in this whole debacle.

Until the day she became Lotho's wife, she had argued, Bag End would be hers and hers alone. Hers and her ailing father's.

And this was her final day of enjoying her home all to herself. She had asked all of her relatives to let her have this day, this last day to herself, to be alone with her home and her father, who was sleeping soundly in his favourite armchair by the fire place, with his mind being at peace and not leaving him for periods of time.

She would enjoy this last day of peace, this final day that every action she made was an action that was of her own decision and her every move was not being dictated by Lotho or his loathsome mother.

She shuddered at the thought and turned back to her book, running her finger lovingly over the familiar script. It was a book her mother had read to her as a child and if nothing else came out of this loveless marriage, she hoped the children she bore Lotho would share her love of books and the written word, so that she might share with them the same joy she had had with her mother.

But the book that had once given her so much comfort, gave her none now and with a sigh she set it heavily down on the bench beside her.

She ran her hand lightly upon its cover for a moment or two before she turned her attention once more to the view that had been her whole world for almost forty years.

"Good morning." The words left her lips without prompting, a habit drummed into her from early childhood, a habit that came forth in response to the surprise she felt in that moment.

For there in front of her, standing just outside her front gate, was a tall old man holding a long staff of twisted wood. He was dressed all in grey, from his tall hat on top of his head to the bottom of his mud stained robes. A long silver scarf hung loosely around his neck and his thick grey beard fell mid-way down his chest.

"What do you mean?" The old man asked, looking down his long crocked nose at her, "Do you wish me a good morning, or do you mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not? Or, perhaps you mean to say that you feel good on this particular morning. Or are you simply stating that this is a morning to be good on?"

"I…" Bilbo stared up at the old man in confusion and bewilderment, "I was… just being polite."

The old man raised an eyebrow down at her causing her to shift uncomfortably upon her bench.

"Can I help you?" She asked after a long and uncomfortable pause of the big person simply staring at her. They didn't get many big folk around the Shire and certainly not in Hobbiton, but there was something about the old man that was familiar to her that kept her from beating a hasty retreat into her home, locking her front door tightly behind her.

"That remains to be seen." The old man replied, still eyeing her up and down as if he was looking for something in particular and seemed to be growing more aggravated by the second when he wasn't finding it. "I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure."

Bilbo's heart immediately leapt at the word 'adventure'. It was as if some greater power had heard her heart's plea for escape and freedom.

 _No, no you can't_ , Her Baggins side hissed furiously as her Took side stirred slowly from a deep slumber from which it had remain dormant at the back of her mind for years, _you have responsibilities! To Papa and the rest of family! You are Baggins!_

 _You are also a Took_ , a whisper that sounded very much like her mother breathed from the depths of her mind but she forced herself to brush it away. Her Baggins side was right, she couldn't… she just couldn't.

"An adventure?" She swallowed down the burning longing that had built in her chest at the word, "Now, I don't imagine anyone west of Bree would have much interest in adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things."

 _Baggins words_ , her Took side jeered, fully awake now and stirring impatiently about in her chest. _Oh no, wait, Sackville-Baggins words_.

"Make you late for dinner." Those at least were her father's words but they had always been spoken to her mother in jest, before she fell ill and the mind sickness stole his mind.

She shook herself and forced herself to her feet, picking up her book as she did so and made to go back into the safety of her Hobbit-hole.

"Good morning," She said politely back to the strange old man, before turning to head back inside.

"To think," the old man barked out in outrage, "that I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took's daughter, as if I were selling buttons at the door."

"I – beg your pardon?" She spun back on her heels to stare at the strange man, her mouth dry and eyes wide. Her mother? How did this strange old man know her mama's name?

"You've changed, and not entirely for the better, Bilbo Baggins." And he knew her name as well!

"I'm sorry… do I know you?" She tried to remember the stories her mother told her, of the people she had met on her adventures, but she had been caught so off guard by the wizard old man that no names came to the forefront of her mind.

"Well, you know my name, although you don't remember I belong to it. I am Gandalf! And Gandalf means… me."

Bilbo gapped at the man, the wizard, her mother's oldest and dearest friend, whom she had spoken of, even to her dying day, with a wide smile and bright eyes.

 _One of these days, my darling girl_ , her mother had said to her on her deathbed, _Gandalf will come for you too and he will show you the world that lives outside of your books. You just have to be brave enough to follow_.

"Gandalf," She mumbled the name that had been a part of every single one of her childhood games of make-believe. The name she had sobbed, asking for help when her mother was dying and her father was sinking into himself, withdrawing from the world, from his own daughter. The name she had screamed out in anger after her mother's funeral, when she had run off, to escape the well-meaning but pitying looks sent her way as she stood alone by her mother's grave because her father was lost within his own head and unable to leave his bed. Gandalf whom she had waited all her life to come, was finally here and on the day right before her wedding.

The rage that had burned within her after her mother's funeral was newly lit and it was taking all of her self-control not to throw herself at him, screaming, demanding to know why, why had he come now and not when her mother was dying and asking for him? Why had he not come before she became trapped by her world of needing to look after a mentally ill father and take care of her family lands while all around her she had people saying she could not, not on her own, not without a husband! That she should be married and taking care of babies, not looking over lands and managing finances. Where was he before all this happened to her?

"Why are you here?" She asked quietly, staring at the wizard who was watching her even more closely now as if he knew the fury that burned within her and that she was fighting for control.

"As I told you, I am looking for someone to share an adventure with."

"Well, you'll need to find someone else because that person cannot be me!" Bilbo retorted acidly, crossing her arms firmly against her chest.

"And why, Bilbo Baggins is that?"

"Because I'm getting _married_ tomorrow!" the words tore from her body as a scream, filled with bitterness and revulsion.

That seemed to the catch the wizard off guard. He leant heavily upon his stick as he survey her heavy breathing and trembling hands.

"And this has made you angry."

She simply scowled at him, hating him almost as much as she did when she had been just twenty-nine and her mother was freshly buried under cold winter soil.

"Well that's decided." The wizard's declaration dragged her from her thoughts and she simply blinked at him dumbly as he drew himself to his full height once more, "It will be very good for you, and most amusing for me. I shall inform the others."

"I'm sorry, what? Inform who?" She stood for a moment staring at the wizard stupidly before she started to blink rapidly, shaking her head, "No. no. No! Wait! We do not want any adventures here, thank you. Not today… or any day after! I suggest you try over the Hill or across the Water." She started running up her steps for her front door. She was just in her front door before she turned around to stare at the wizard once more who was watching her as intently as ever.

"Good morning!" She snapped as she slammed her front door closed, shutting out his furiously calm and thoughtful face from her sight. But doing so did not stop him from remaining at the forefront of her thoughts.

"No," She whispered, her fingers creeping up to wrap around the wedding ring hanging from a black cord around her neck, welcoming the comfort it offered her, "I can't… it's too late, far too late."

She jumped at the sound of scratching at her door. It didn't sound like one of the local cats she sometimes left warm milk out for in the evenings. There was an odd pattern to the scratches that she could not make heads or tails of.

Frowning she moved to the one of the two small round window built on either side of her front door, only to leap backwards when a huge blue eye peered back at her from the other side of the glass.

Gasping, hand pressed firmly over her racing heart, she back quickly away, hiding down the corridor leading to her front parlour.

"Billanna?"

She twisted her head around, a small sad smile gracing her lips as she stared at her dear papa, who was pulling himself weakly from slumber, blinking up at her tired, glazed eyes.

"Yes, Papa, I'm here." She moved swiftly to his side, seating her book down upon the table overflowing with her mother's old books and maps. "I'm here. All is well."

"Oh… my darling girl. I had-I had such an awful dream… you were gone and I-I was alone, all alone."

"Oh Papa," She laughed sadly, "What a silly dream. I am here, as I have always been and as I always will be. You will never be alone. I promise."

Her father reached out touched her cheek, his cloudy eyes roaming over her features.

"You are so like your mother and yet…" he whispered looking pained, "I fear there is too much of me in you as well. My side is stifling your mother's and…" his face twisted and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Papa, no, hush now." She pressed her hand against his on her cheek, "All is well, I am the perfect balance of both Mama and you," She smiled at him, hoping that her words would reassure him and he would smile back and return to a state of contentment. Only…

"You are not happy." He whispered and she blinked, a small gasp escaping her. "You-you are so unhappy, and I have-I have made it so." His head fell forward; his chin lightly thumbing against his chest and with that, he was asleep again.

Bilbo sat back on her heals, eyes closing briefly as she fought back a small sob sitting in the middle of her chest.

Yes, she was unhappy, but he was not meant to know! He, least of all, was not to know the depth of her unhappiness. Everything she was doing was to make him happy and feel secure! That was why she was marrying Lotho, to secure her father's mind that all was well and so he could be happy. But if he knew that she was not happy, then he would worry and…

She squeezed her eyes more firmly shut at the thought.

Her father's already unstable mind only grew more troubled and lost whenever he became too worried or upset over something. Days could be spent with him being in a near comatose state and she… she could not deal with having him like that, not with her wedding tomorrow. Maybe it was wrong and it made her a terrible daughter, but today she wished to focus solely upon her own unhappiness and pain, for tomorrow would be spent hiding behind a polite, well-trained smile and flowery words.

She felt sick to her gut simply thinking about it.

 _You could have agreed to Gandalf's adventure_ ; her Took side reminded her softly, _instead of worrying yourself sick over the idea of marrying Lotho and fretting over Papa's state of mind._

"Going on adventure would solve nothing; it would simply be running away. And it would cause Papa grief for me to leave without a word." She whispered to the silence of her home. "I am not meant for adventures. I am not like Mama!"

Her words sounded a hallow as they felt but she refused to take them back and instead they drifted in an empty Hobbit-hole, only adding to years of pain and sadness that coated every wall for the last decade. Nothing would change, everything would remain the same.

Even when the Sackville-Baggins moved into her home in the coming days, their arrival would not remove the sadness that painted every surface, would not return the happiness that was lost.

Her home no longer gave her joy.


	2. An Unexpected Party

**Author's Note:** As this is one of my all-time favourite parts in both the book and the movie, this chapter is rather long (18 pages to be exact).

I hope you enjoying reading this chapters as much as I loved writing it.

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 **Chapter 2  
**

 **An Unexpected Party**

She had just settled her father into bed and was walking back to the kitchen to fix herself up some supper when her doorbell rang for the first time that evening.

Her immediate thought was that it was relative; someone who thought the bride-to-be should not be left on her lonesome the night before her wedding, with only her father for company, even though that was specifically what she had requested.

With a heavy sigh, and wrapping her favourite dressing gown – the one her mother and she had spent months on because Bilbo had kept changing her mind of what colours she had wanted to make up the robe – more tightly around her as she made her way to her front door, ready to tell whichever well-meaning relative it was who had come calling, that yes, she was fine, thank you for visiting but she truly was fine, she would see them tomorrow at the wedding, now please _go away_!

With her little speech ready and waiting in hand, she opened her front door only to stop short, speechless.

"Ah…" She found she was quite without words, as she stared up at the tall, bald dwarf standing upon her doorstep, the light of the of her door lantern reflecting off the tattoos of his shinning bald head. She was even more at a loss when he greets her with a short bow and offers her his service.

"Dwalin, at your service."

"Bilbo, um, Baggins, at yours." She politely replied, only stuttering a little as the dwarf marched straight through her front door without so much as an invitation from her to do so.

"D-do we know each other?" She squeaked, stepping hastily back as the dwarf continued to invade her home, and not appearing to care that his uninvited intrusion was causing her a great deal of distress.

She was barely able to hide how badly she was shaking when the dwarf turned back to look at her with a hard express and gave a short hard "No" to her question.

"Which way, lassie?" He continued, once more looking around her Hobbit-hole, "Is it down here?"

"I-is what down where?" She squeaked. What was going on?

The dwarf didn't answer at first, instead he was shrugging off his pack and cloak, letting them full unceremoniously to her floor.

"Supper." The dwarf finally answered, marching through her front parlour in the direction of her kitchen, "He said there'd be food, and lots of it."

"H-he said? Who said?" Bilbo squeaked after him, but received no answer except the thudding beat of her own heart racing in her ears.

 _Gandalf…_

No, it couldn't… he wouldn't! She had said no! She had said _no_! But then what was going on…

 **HiBtWH**

Bilbo curled herself into a corner of her kitchen, watching the huge and intimating dwarf eat her hastily thrown together supper that she had prepared for him. She had tried to ask him more questions of who he was, why he was here but she had been met with only grunts in reply and so she had given up for time being.

She wasn't so scared of the dwarf now, her fears had settled some when she had given him food and he genuinely appeared to appreciate the supper she had prepared him – even if he ate in a truly revolting fashion – but she was still quite confused as to why he was there.

 _Had he been sent by Gandalf?_ Another attempt to coax her to come along on his mad adventure? It was poor attempt, and had utterly failed in its execution. She would be sure to tell him so if he ever made appearance.

Hobbits liked visitors well enough, but not ones who barged into their home, with the barest of introduction and then proceed to demand food. It was… beyond being impolite! It was perfectly barbaric!

"Mmmm… Very good this." She was pulled from her thoughts by the dwarf speaking in more than just appreciative grunts for the first time in well over twenty minutes, "Anymore?"

"What? Oh, um, yes." She picked up a tray of the scones she had baked earlier that day to take her mind off her encounter with Gandalf and her worries over tomorrow. Baking had always been a calming busy work activity for her.

"Here, um, please enjoy." The tray was near snatched from her hand and she watched in revolted fascination as the dwarf shoved two scones straight into his mouth.

She was forced to look away from the gross affair when her doorbell rang for the second time that night.

 _Gandalf…?_

"That'll be the door." The dwarf commented around a mouth full of food.

"Oh truly? I had no idea." She retorted tartly as she stomped out of the kitchen, "And don't talk with your mouth full! It's disgusting!" She called back waspishly.

Taking a deep breath, she found herself bracing for the worst as she grasped the round door handle of her door.

It wasn't… quite so bad as she had feared.

There was still a dwarf standing upon her doorstep, but this one was less… terrifying, in every way compared to the dwarf eating his way through her kitchen. He had a kind, fatherly look to him, dressed in soft reds, with a long white beard that split down the middle with the ends pointing in opposite directions.

"Balin," the dwarf greeted her with a warm smile, "at your service." His bow was much more proper than the one she had received from the first dwarf.

 _At least this one has manners_ , she thought once she got over being dazed at finding yet another dwarf on her doorstep.

"Goo-good evening."

"Yes," Balin agreed, looking out at the night sky, "yes, it is, though I think it might rain later. Am I late?"

"Late-late for what?" Why did it feel like everyone knew what was going on except for her?

Balin didn't answer her however for as he moved into her entrance hall, he had looked into her front parlour to see Dwalin – were they related? They're names were certainly similar – whose hand was quick literally caught in the cookie jar that Bilbo usually had seated on the fireplace mantle as a late night reading snack.

"Oh, ha ha!" Balin crowed moving towards Dwalin who had shaken his hand free of the cookie jar, "Evening, brother." _Oh, well, that answered that then_.

"Oh, by my beard," Dwalin boomed in response, "you are shorter and wider than last we met."

"Wider," Balin agreed jovially, "not shorter. Sharp enough for both of us."

The two dwarves – brothers she now knew – laughed amicably as they put their arms on each other's shoulders before smashing their foreheads together. Bilbo let out a small choking noise at the loud crack the two foreheads made when they connected. Completely barbaric!

"Uh, excuse me," She squeaked, giving a small wave to catch the two dwarves attention, "sorry, I hate to interrupt, ah, but the thing is, I'm not entirely sure you're in the right house."

They hadn't said a word about Gandalf or about any adventure or…

And they were ignoring her.

Completely and utterly ignoring her as they made a beeline for her pantry, immediately pouring themselves mugs of ale and examining the food that was packed into the space.

There was even more food in her pantry than usual because of her wedding tomorrow, her shelves almost buckling under the weight of heavy platters and trays of different cheeses and meats, fruits and vegetables. But even with her pantry full stocked to the brim, it would still not be enough for her hungry guests. She had been counting her blessing, for it was one less thing for her to worry about, that hobbits had a delightful habit of bringing at least three plates of food to any party they were invited to, even when assured there would be plenty to feed all, hobbits refused to take the chance of going hungry.

She hovered anxiously out in the hallway while the dwarves raided her shelves, chattering away to each other and still completely ignoring her.

"It's not," She said trying to make herself heard over the two dwarves and their loud conversation, "that I don't like visitors. I-I like visitors as much as the next Hobbit, but I do like to know them before they come visiting."

Nothing… not even a glance in her direction.

She ducked with a squeak as a lump of blue vein cheese was tossed in the direction of her head by Dwalin. She wasn't sure if he was actually aiming for her head to shut her up or she just so happened to be in line of his throw. It didn't matter either way, not when the end result was the same. These dwarves were the rudest beings in existence!

"The thing is, um," She struggled to keep control of her temper but the more upset she got, the more she stuttered and the more her father's teaching came forth. From an early age her father had taught to keep her temper by being polite, so that now, the more upset or angry she became over something, the politer she spoken. At least she wasn't crying angry tears yet. "I don't know either of you, not in the slightest. I don't mean to be blunt, but I, uh, but I had to speak my mind. I'm sorry."

The two dwarves stopped talking together almost immediately, their heads turning to look at her.

"Hm," Balin smiled, "Apology accepted."

And then they returned to raiding her pantry.

 _Oh, well you certainly showed them!_ Her Took side chortled.

Her doorbell rang for the third time that night.

She shot the dwarves in her pantry a frantic look before hugging her arms close around herself she walked back to her front door.

 _Don't open it! Just don't open it!_ Her Baggins side wailed as she opened her front door to see two quite young dwarves – They looked young, younger than her but dwarves aged at a slower rate to Hobbits, didn't they? Or at least, so she had read. – smiled cheerily at her from her door step.

She bit back a whimper of distress.

"Fili." The possibly older of the two, his corn coloured hair shining in the lantern light greeted her first.

"And Kili." The younger, dark haired dwarf followed closely before both were bowing and offering their service to her.

"You must be Miss Boggins."

"Nope," She made to slam her door. She had had quite enough of this! "You can't come in; you've come to the wrong house."

She squealed when her door was stopped suddenly and was being pressed open again.

"What?" Kili, the younger dark dwarf yelped, his eyes wide with panic. "Has it been cancelled?"

"No one told us." Fili added, looking far calmer than his brother – she was guessing, given their similar names – but still there was a concerned look to his brown eyes.

"Canc…" She stammered, "No-nothings been cancelled." _Nothing was_ planned _to be cancelled in the first place!_ She wanted to yell at them.

Both dwarves beamed and shoved their way into her home.

"Well, that's a relief." Kili cheered as both he and Fili started unloading their belonging into Bilbo's arms. She didn't even know how that happened!

"Careful with these," Fili warned her as placed several heavy sword-like weapons into her arms, his face serious though his dark eyes were dancing with mirth, "I just had 'em sharpened."

"It's nice, this place." Kili was saying as he paced her front entrance hall, "You do it yourself?"

She struggled with her armful of sharp, pointing things to look over at the younger dwarf.

"Ah, no, it's been in the family for years…" she let out a small squeak of horror as the young dwarf started to scrape the mud off of his boots on the edge of her mother's glory box.

"That's my mother's glory box!" She yelled at him furiously, "Can you _please_ not do that."

He stopped and almost immediately looked slightly shamed face as he stared at her meekly, muttering a small apology. The first one she had received all evening.

"Well, uh, thank…" she started only for her to be almost barrelled over by Dwalin suddenly appearing just behind her.

"Fili, Kili, come on, give us a hand." He barked and the two boys because truly, despite the beards on their youthful faces – though dark haired one, Kili, has only the shadow of a beard gracing the lower half of his face– they really were just boys, almost bounced over to the older dwarf like over-excited puppies. Kili in particular she was certain that if he had a tail he would be wagging it so hard it might just fall off from enthusiasm.

"Mister Dwalin." The youngest dwarf greeted looking at the older dwarf with an expression of awe while his older, golden brother looked on with fond exasperation as the three walked back towards her dining room. From within her dining room, she could hear Balin organizing the other three dwarves.

"Let's shove this into the hallway," he was saying, "otherwise we'll never get everyone in."

 _More? There were more of them coming!_

"Ev-everyone? How many more of you are there?" she yelled at them from the hallway, but once again she was ignored or simply not heard over the sound of them talking to each other as they moved her furniture around.

And for the fourth time that night, her doorbell rang.

"Oh, no," She shouted, as she stormed back towards it, dumping the junk and whatever else the youngest dwarves had shoved into her arms upon their arrival into a neat pile by the coat rack, "No, no! There-There's nobody home! Go away, and bother somebody else! There are far too many dwarves in my dining room as it is! If-if-if this is someone's idea of a joke! I can only say," She grabbed the hand of her door, and yanked it angrily open, "It is in very poor taste…"

She let out a shriek, for the moment she had started to opening her door, it flew fully open and half a dozen, possibly more dwarves were suddenly falling through it and landing in a swearing, groaning pile at her feet.

"I-I…" she stammered as she stared down at the dwarves at her feet, numbly thanking one wearing a truly ridiculous hat as he held up her broken doorbell for her to take.

"Sorry bout that." The dwarf apologizes, his brown eyes full of laughter as he tried to pull himself free of the dwarf pile that he lay at the bottom of.

"Um, no, it's," she stared at her doorbell that had clearly been pulled clean from her doorframe, "its fine." If her voice was a little higher than normal than that was no one's business but her own.

She heard a small chuckle from just outside her Hobbit-hole and when she looked just beyond the dwarf pile, lo and behold, there stood Gandalf.

"Gandalf." She growled as the wizard dipped his hat to her, a faint, amused smile playing upon his mouth.

She met the remaining eight dwarves, those who had made up the dog pile, in quick succession with their names going through one ear and out the other before they went and joined their fellow dwarves, for they clearly all knew each other given the loud and verbose greeting that they were shouting all around her Hobbit-hole.

Oh…

She quickly ran up one of the many corridors that made up her home, to her father's bedroom. And bless him, he was still sound asleep. Thank goodness.

She took a quick detour to her bedroom, changing out of her night clothes into her favourite trousers and shirt, twisting her curls into a lopsided bun at the nape of her neck before she returned to the chaos that was occurring at the front of her house.

She had stop and turn back many a dwarf who started heading in the direction of hers and her father's rooms in their hunt for more chairs and large flat faced furniture to add to her now apparent too short dining table. But aside from shouting at them not to use any furniture that was considered an antique and had been in the family for years, she stood to the side of her hall and simply watched the madness unfold.

If she wasn't so stressed from days of worrying over her wedding she might have found all of this to be rather hilarious.

Her family home had been completely invaded by dwarves!

Even her mother couldn't boast of such a thing happening to her. In fact, in a mere hour Bilbo had met more dwarves than her mother had seen in all her time adventuring. And all of them on the doorway of her own home!

She let out a tiny hysterical laugh that she tried to smother behind her hands.

What was even happening!

She had tried to grab Gandalf, to demand an explanation, but the wizard appeared to be avoiding her and despite his huge size, was rather adapt at dodging her in her own home!

She watched as the dwarves moved furniture and took the food meant for her wedding, spreading it over their makeshift table, talking amicably to each other as they moved about Bag End as if it were their very own home. She hoped she was never invited to visit any of them, if the state they were leaving her home in was anything to go by.

She didn't join them as they all sat down at the makeshift table, eating all of her food. She didn't think she could have, even if she wanted to, given their atrocious table manners.

She could only stare at Gandalf who was able to sit amongst the chaos and appeared to be calm and collected, laughing merrily as the dwarves threw food at each other and had burping competitions.

"No one is ever going to believe that this happened!" Bilbo muttered to herself, as she took in the damage of her pantry. It was empty, not even enough scraps left for non-existent mice. She was already getting a headache at the thought of the horrified screams from various aunts, cousins and a certain soon-to-be mother-in-law that she would be hearing the following morning.

She didn't know what they would believe had really happened, but this, dwarves sitting at her dining table, eating all she had in house and home, no, not ever, not in million years would they believe this!

She pressed her face into her hands, and let out a tiny scream. She didn't need this!

She went and hid back in her kitchen to try and get some control over her breathing and the panic that was slowing rising within her.

 _It's alright, it's alright, it's alright_. She could hear the heavy foot falls of dwarves coming down the hall towards the kitchen. _It's alright. It's alright. It'll be alright!_

"Excuse me," she growled jumping from her seat to snatch one of her grandmother's doily's from the hands of the red hair dwarf with a star-shaped braided hair style. "That's a doily, not a dishcloth!"

"But it's full of holes!" pointed out the dwarf with the funny hat that had just come into the kitchen behind the dwarf with the star-shaped hair style.

"It's supposed to look like that," She grounded back, "its crochet."

"Oh, and a wonderful game it is too," the dwarf with the funny hat grinned, leaning against her china cabinet, "if you got the balls for it."

She froze for a second, her brain processing what he had just said. Had he just…

Her cheeks burned as she stared at him in embarrassed horror, gapping at his wicked smirk and the cheery twinkle in his dark eyes. Yes, yes he had…

Had he no sense of propriety?!

No, she was fairly certain that he did not. None of them did!

Her face only grew hotter when he winked at her in an almost scandalous fashion, before he went off to try and steal a rope of sausages that the star-haired dwarf had managed to find.

"Bebother and confusticate these dwarves." She moaned as she leant heavily upon her china cabinet.

"My dear Bilbo, what on earth is the matter?" She lifted her head from the side of the cabinet to glare up – and up – at the wizard who was smiling down at her.

"Oh, what is this? Are you speaking with me now?" She snapped tartly back at him, "Well since you appear to be, I will tell you what on earth the matter is! I am surrounded by dwarves! On the night before my wedding! What are they doing here?"

Gandalf laughs and Bilbo had to drown down the desire to throw something soft and goo-y that would become terribly tangled in his long beard.

"Oh, they're quite a merry gathering," they watched as the two dwarves squabbled past them, still in the middle of their tug-of-war of the rope of sausages, "once you get used to them." He added as if it were an afterthought.

Bilbo let out a small chocked sound.

"I-I don't want to get used to them!" She ranted storming out of her kitchen into her main hall way, Gandalf following after her, "The state of my kitchen! There's mud trod into the carpet, they've pi-pillaged the pantry. That FOOD was for my _WEDDING_! I'm not even going to tell you what they've done in the bathroom; they've all but destroyed the plumbing! How they haven't woken my father, is-is beyond my comprehension. I just," She stared furiously up at the wizard, "I don't understand what they're doing in my house! And tonight… tonight of all nights! Why?"

"Excuse me," She jumped as a soft voice suddenly spoke quite close to right elbow. When she turned to look, she saw it was one of the younger dwarves, not Fili or Kili, but the youngest who had appeared with the dog pile. If she wasn't quite so upset, she might have thought him sweet, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?"

 _Take it to the kitchen and I will wash it_ , was on the tip of tongue when the plate the young dwarf was holding out to her was suddenly pinched by Fili.

"Here you go, Ori, give it to me."

"Don't you…" Bilbo started to make a lunge for her crockery, only for it to fly over her head to be caught by Kili from the doorway of the kitchen who then proceeded to throw it into the kitchen. With her heart in her throat she wait for the inevitable smashing sound of crockery against stone floor, only it never came. Even when dozen plates were being thrown through the air, there were no sounds of smashing.

"Oh, please don't," Bilbo pleaded, hands pressed to her face, peeking fearfully through her fingers, "that's my mother's West Farthing crockery, it's over a hundred years old!"

They didn't listen to her, because of course they didn't, why she expected them to when…

And now they're banging the table! She turned with a pained expression to the dwarves still sitting at her dining table, banging their fists and utensils against the wood.

"And can-can you please not do that either!" She protested, "You'll blunt them!"

"Ooh, d'hear that, lads?" the fellow with the funny hat chortled, giving her a playful look, "She says we'll blunt the knives."

And then they were singing.

Now Bilbo was as fond of a good song as any hobbit, she had even written a few tunes herself over the years, but never, never before had she sung or created a song that was quite so… mocking of a person and showed such blatant disrespect for a person's possession and home.

Gandalf held her back as the dwarves sang, leaving her helpless to watch to her plates and cutlery be thrown round her Hobbit-hole almost gleefully, as if tormenting her was a not so secret delight that they all shared.

She was finally able to wrench herself free of Gandalf's gentle hand and stalk into her kitchen only to pull up short when she saw her dishes stack neat and tidy in the centre of her kitchen table, the dwarves and Gandalf laughing at her shocked expression.

"You… I…"

Her words were cut off by three loud knocks upon her front door and the whole kitchen fell silent, the joy and laughter of the dwarves disappearing into a serious and sombre mood.

"He is here." Gandalf spoke finally and motion for Bilbo to follow him, even though would really rather just got to bed and try to forget this night.

"Gandalf…" She protested as she scurried after him as he led her back to her front door, "who is…" Gandalf waved his hand at her to be silent and opened her front door.

And there stood was the most majestic dwarf – the most majestic person ever really – Bilbo had seen in all her life. He reminded her of old fairy tales of ancient kings and brave knights. His whole presence radiated power and a sense of regal bearing as he stepped into her home, shaking free his cloak.

"Gandalf." The majestic dwarf wonderfully deep voice spoke smoothly against her ears, "I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way, twice." _Really? You got lost in the Shire? Twice?_ "Wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door."

"Mark?" She spluttered, "There's no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago!" In preparation for her wedding.

"There is a mark; I put it there myself." Gandalf answered and suddenly the strange scratching from earlier that afternoon made complete sense.

"Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

She glanced back at the majestic dwarf and tried hard not to blush as he looked her up and down. He was rather handsome… for a dwarf.

"So, this is the Hobbit." _What…_ "Tell me, Mistress Baggins, have you done much fighting?"

 _What…?_

"Par-pardon me?" she squeaked.

"Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?"

 _WHAT?_

"Well, I've always found the pen to be mightier than any sword, but…" _Oh stop talking, just stop talking Bilbo_ , "I fail to see how that's… relevant." She looked down at her feet, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"Thought as much. She looks more like a grocer's daughter than a burglar." She heard Thorin comment lightly while the dwarves around them laughed good-naturedly as they ushered their leader to her dining room.

She slowly raised her burning face to stare at Gandalf questioning, as the wizard gave a forced chuckle before leaning heavily against the wall of her Hobbit-hole, looking exhausted.

"Burglar?" She queried him but the wizard refused to answer, simply beckoning for her to follow them back to the dining room. She did so after a moment, though not before she took a good long look at the strange branch of oak that was seated against Thorin's pack.

What a strange thing for a dwarf to carry.

Because the dwarves had eaten all of the food that Bilbo had had in her pantry, Bilbo took it upon herself to fix the newest dwarf a quick bowl of her Grandma Took's famous soup. It was a soup that possessed an extraordinary long-life if kept somewhere cool and dry place, it's taste only improving with age.

She stood in her kitchen, allowing for the soup to re-heat over a small fire, giving herself a chance to calm her heart down and to regain some of – all of – the composure she had lost upon the arrival of the dwarves. And Thorin…

Her cheeks burned once again and a nervous giggle escaped in her lips.

What was wrong with her? She had never been the type of lass to become silly and giggly over a handsome fellow. It was ridiculous, it was the behaviour expected of a tweenager and not of a hobbit woman full grown.

She shook herself and spooned the now hot soup into a bowl and carried it carefully into the dining room, to where Thorin was sitting at the head of her table.

He looked a little surprised when she presented him with the bowl, along with her stammered apologies for not being able to offer him more. He took the bowl from her and quietly thanked her before he dug into the soup.

She smiled when she saw his shoulders relax after his first bite and he made a small appreciative sound that was almost missed under the noise that was being made by the rest of the dwarves present.

She tried to duck away, to hide once more in her kitchen, but her shirt sleeve was caught by Gandalf and so she found herself standing awkwardly between the wizard and Thorin.

She listened silently as they spoke of a meeting and envoys from the seven Dwarven Kingdoms, of dwarves from the Iron Hills and how a dwarf named Dain would not come. Her heart went out a little to the dwarves, their disappointment over this news was almost palpable.

"They say this quest is ours, and ours alone." Thorin finished quietly though his voice could be heard through the room.

"You're-you're going on a quest?" Bilbo asked her curiosity getting the better of her. She felt the eyes of the dwarves shift in her direction, a strange look in most of them.

"Bilbo, my dear girl," Gandalf broke the silence in a hurried fashion, touching her shoulder, "let us have a little more light." She hesitated for a moment before acquiescing to his request. She was quick to grab and light a candle from the hallway cupboard, taking care when she brought it back to the table, holding it steady over the old looking map that Gandalf had spread across it.

"Far to the East," Gandalf spoke, waving a hand over the map, "over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak."

"The Lonely Mountain." Bilbo whispered, naming the solitary peak drawn upon the ancient and beautiful map. She knew of the mountain, from old maps of Middle-Earth her mother owned, but this map, this map was quite different to ones she had seen.

"Aye," the intimidating red-head dwarf whose name Bilbo had finally learnt was Gloin rumbled, "Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time."

Gloin's older and deaf brother nodded, holding his hearing horn against his ear as he spoke;

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold: when the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end."

Beast… what beast? Wasn't Erebor a kingdom of dwarves?

"Well that would be reference to Smaug the Terrible," Bofur, the fellow with funny hat and who had so enjoyed teasing her earlier responded to the question that she had belatedly realised she had spoken out loud, "chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks," he paused for a moment, watching her with a teasing look, "extremely fond of precious metals…"

"Yes, alright," She held out a hand to stop him there, "I know what a dragon is."

A dragon… a real-life dragon…

"I'm not afraid," the sweet dwarf, by the name of Ori exclaimed, "I'm up for it. I'll give him a taste of the dwarfish iron right up his jacksie."

Bilbo pressed a hand to her mouth to hide her amused smile. Oh he was just sweetness itself.

"Sit down." The youngster oldest brother shouted catching the boy's shoulder and forcing him back into his seat.

"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us. But we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best," Balin paused and looked around at them all, "nor the brightest."

Bilbo leant against her wall as she listen to the outrage objects that were being shouted around the dinner table. If this was what they were going to be like every time they had to make a decision, Bilbo feared greatly for their quest. They weren't going to get anywhere fast.

"We may be few in number," spoke up Fili, his voice calm and collected against the still roaring objections still being shouted, "but we're fighters, all of us, to the last dwarf!"

"And you forget," His younger brother jumped in eagerly, "we have a wizard in our company. Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time."

Bilbo pressed her hand more firmly against mouth, trying to hide her sniggers as coughs. In all her mother's stories, Gandalf had always been portray more as a master of pulling string than a warrior who slew monsters with a sword. And looking at Gandalf now, she was guessing that assessment wasn't far from the truth.

He looked mighty uncomfortable as he was prodded and poked over how many dragons he had killed. And when he could gave them no number, instead coughing in embarrassment around his pipe the dwarves were off squabbling amongst themselves again.

"SHAZARA!" Bilbo jumped at Thorin who up until this point had been quiet suddenly stood up, his voice echoing with power around her dining room. She did not know what the word he had shouted meant, but it was enough to make every dwarf fall respectfully silent, their full attention directed at him.

"If we have read the signs," He continued in common, "do you not think others will have read them too? Rumours have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years. Eyes look east to the Mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this change to take back Erebor? Du Bekar! Du Bekar!"

The room erupted with cheers, cheers that even Bilbo felt like joining in on.

When the cheers had quieten down, Balin, his expression sombre spoke up, his tone grave.

"You forget," he said heavily, "the front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain."

"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true." Gandalf smiled, his hand moving beneath his robes before pulling forth one of the prettiest keys she had ever seen and held aloft for all to see.

"How-how came you by this?" Thorin asked in wonder.

"It was given to me by your father, by Thrain, for safekeeping. It is yours now." Gandalf handed the key over to Thorin, who took it from him with reverence.

"If there is a key, there must be a door." Kili said excitedly.

"No, really?" Bilbo whispered dryly before forcing herself to shut up when she noticed Thorin's eyes shift slightly in her direction. Blushing, she forced herself to pay attention to Gandalf who was lightly tapping the ruins drawn carefully upon the map with his pipe.

"These runes speak of a hidden passage to the lower halls…"

"There's another way in!" Kili interrupted the wizard, his eyes bright with excitement. His brother nudged and the boy fell bashfully silent.

"Well," Gandalf continued after a moment, "if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed."

 _That_ , Bilbo thought, _sounds like a very poor idea indeed. Clever during times of war but what if there was a long period of peace and the means of how to open the door were forgot or lost…_

 _Pay attention Bilbo_ , she scolded herself, but too late, Gandalf had finished talking and now sweet Ori was saying something about needing a burglar.

"Hmm," Bilbo was inclined to agree with him too, "A good one, too. An expert, I'd imagine." She stared down at the map, desperately wanting to touch it and look over it more closely.

"And are you?" it took her a moment to realise that the large intimating dwarf, Gloin was talking to her, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. She reared back a little, quite taken aback to have every single eye in the room boring into her.

"Am I… what?" she asked slowly, her shoulders moving up towards her ears.

"She said she's an expert! Hey hey!" Oin cried out in delight and the room once more erupted with applause.

 _Wait… what?!_

"M-me?" She choked, "No! No, no, no, no. _I_ am no burglar. I've never stolen a thing in my life." Well… No, Farmer Maggot's mushrooms did not count!

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Miss Baggins. She's hardly burglar material." He sent apologetic look even though she was nodding empathetically with every word he had spoken in regards to her not being a burglar.

"Aye, the wild is no place for gentlefolk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves." Dwalin added, giving her a dismissive look that had her bristle even though she agreed with him. About herself and other hobbits in general, but her mother… her mother had never been afraid of the wilds of the world, determined to not allow it to frighten her. It was she that these dwarfs wanted and needed for this quest of theirs, not her.

The familiar sinking sadness started to build inside her at the thoughts of her mother, her thoughts drifting away from the renewed arguing in her dining room to her place of memories of her mother.

"Enough!" She jumped, all thoughts of her mother banished for the moment at Gandalf's booming voice, his whole form appearing much larger and looming as he stretched to his full height within her dining room. "If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, then a burglar she is."

She stared at the wizard, not quite believing just how much faith he had put into his words. No one had ever shown so much faith in her before, no one since…

"Hobbits are remarkable light on their feet," Gandalf was saying, "In fact, they can pass unseen by most if they choose. And while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him,"

 _So let's just go and introduce him to it shall we so he can come here and feast_ , Bilbo choked.

Gandalf turned his attention to Thorin who had once more returned to being a silent as the grave.

"You asked me to find the fourteenth member of this company, and I have chosen Master Baggins. There's a lot more to her than appearances suggest, and she's got a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including herself." He shot Bilbo a knowing look that left her breathless before turning his attention back to Thorin, "You must trust me on this."

There was a long pause as Thorin leant back in his chair to survey both Gandalf and Bilbo herself, his eyes once more looking her up and down, obviously trying to see whatever it was the wizard saw in her. She would rather like to do the same, actually.

"Very well. We will do it your way." Thorin finally said, "Give her the contract."

"Wait…" Bilbo said, suddenly realizing that whatever was happening had suddenly come to a head. She was still blinking in a disoriented fashion when Balin handed her a very thick, very long contract.

"It's just the usually summary of out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth." The contract was heavy in her hands.

"Fune-funeral arrangements?" she squeaked before taking a few steps back to read the contract in the light of her hallway and away from the eager eyes of the dwarves.

 _What are you doing!_ Her Baggins side exclaimed in horror, _you cannot seriously be considering…_

Her eyes darted back and forth over the beautifully hand-written contract, her heart rate growing steadily wilder the more she read.

"… Consequence thereof including but not limited to laceration…" _Um_ , "evisceration…" _Oh…_ "incineration?" she lifted her frighten eyes away from the contract and stared back the dwarves. They must be joking, they just… had to be.

"Oh, aye," Bofur said leaning out of dining room doorway, "he'll melt the flesh off your bones in the blink of an eye."

Was he trying to make her feel better… or worse? She honestly couldn't tell. She pressed a hand to her mouth, trying to force herself to breath normally threw her nose.

"You all right lass?" Balin asked, not unkindly.

"Um…" Nope, she couldn't get her breathing under control. She wrapped her arms loosely around her body and just let her ragged breathing do whatever it wanted.

"Think furnace with wings." Did he truly think he was helping with his very detail description of how she would incinerated by a dragon?

"Flash of light," _oh shut up_ , "searing pain, then Poof! You're nothing more than a pile of ash."

She took another shuddering breath and forced herself to look at the dwarves, who were still watching her with varying expressions on their faces, some – few, very few – looked concerned while the rest… couldn't care less.

"Hmmm. Nope."

And her world went black as she fainted dead away in the hallway of her Hobbit-hole.

 **HiBtWH**

She didn't know who got her settled in her favourite chair – or how they knew this was her favourite chair – by the fire place in her front parlour. She also didn't know who had made her this rather excellent cup of tea that she was nursing in her still shaking hands.

It was easier to focus upon the mug in her hands than it was to Gandalf pacing impatiently back and forth next to her.

"I'll be all right," she muttered in a small voice, wishing the wizard would just go away already and leave her be. And if he could take all those troublesome dwarves with him, she would much appreciate it. "Let me just sit quietly for a moment."

"You've been sitting quietly for far too long." Gandalf snapped at her, his disapproval evident in his tone and the way he held his body as he loomed over her, something she truly hated, she hated being made to feel small and certainly within her own home.

"Tell me; when did dollies and your mother's dishes become so important to you? I remember a young Hobbit who always was running off in search of elves in the woods, who'd stay out late, came home after dark, trailing mud and twigs and fireflies."

"You just described every young hobbit in the Shire ever." Bilbo butted in, not looking up at Gandalf, her head turned towards the fire burning merrily in the fireplace.

She heard Gandalf huff irritably.

"Maybe so, but not all young hobbits were so desperate to find out what was beyond the borders of the Shire. The world is not in your books and maps," Gandalf waved an arm over her table, still a mess with her mother's old books and maps that she had been unable to bring herself to tied away. "It's out there."

"I can't." Bilbo whispered, glaring up at Gandalf, "Don't you understand that I can't! I can't go running off into the blue. I have responsibilities! I am a Baggins, of Bag End."

"You are also a Took!"

"And by this time tomorrow I will also be a Sackville-Baggins." She retorted, standing up to try and close some of the great distance between the wizard and her. She was actually taller when she had still been sitting in her chair. "We can't always have what we want from life… or from the people in it."

"So this it then," Gandalf goaded her, "you will accept the fate that you think has been written for you here in the Shire; you will do nothing to fight it, to change it?"

"You are asking me to steal from a fire-breathing dragon, which may or may not be still alive! In a mountain that is over a thousand leagues away! This is more than simply changing my fate! What you are asking of me… could kill me!"

The wizard chewed broodily upon his pipe, not looking her in the eyes.

"Did you even get them?" she asked suddenly forcing the wizard to look at her again, "the letters that my mother sent you… for years? The letters asking you to visit just one last time before she died. Did you get any of them?" she licked her lips and looked away and back at the fire, "did you even care? How hard is it to put a measly quill to parchment and write back? You were her oldest and dearest friend and you let her die feeling as she was nothing."

"Bilbo…"

"And now you're asking me to do the same to my father! He's sick, did you know? With the mind sickness. It crept upon him during mother's illness. He is so alone and scared, trapped inside of his head, and you want me to leave him? To go on some mad quest that could end with me dying and him not knowing what has happened to me. And I – I won't know what's happening to him either. If I leave and something happens to him, it will be like he meant nothing. And I can't… I won't do that to him! You can't make me!"

"Bilbo…" Gandalf started again as he slowly lowered his large frame so that he could kneel at almost eye level with her. "You cannot live your life like this. Your mother would not want you to."

Bilbo shook her head.

"Doesn't really matter what Mother might or might not have wanted for me, she is not here, it's just Papa and me and this is the life we must live."

"A life in which you are so unhappy that you want to scream?" Gandalf asked gently, a hand resting warmly upon her shoulder.

She squeezed her eyes closed and took a few big, steading breaths.

"Can you promise that I will come back?" She whispered watching the wizard's old face become older and more drawn.

"No." he replied honestly, "and if you do, you will not be the same."

She stared into her fireplace, clenching and unclenching her fists at her side.

"I can't," she breathed, her chest clenching, "I can't leave him. Not for months, not with him having no way of knowing what has become of me. I'm-I'm," She blinked back tears, "sorry Gandalf, but I can't sign this." She pointed blindly to where she had seen the contract neatly seated upon the small table that she had standing by her chair. "You've got the wrong Hobbit."

She spun on her heels and quickly scurried out of the parlour and up her hallway, expertly dodging dwarves who happened to be in her way as she made her escape to her bedroom.

She shut the door of her room with a sharp snap and leant against it heavily, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

She was being ridiculous, honestly! Crying over something like this. She had more than likely just saved her own life! And yet…

"I want to go…" she whispered to the walls that had seen her through thick and thin, stayed stable when her small world fell apart at the seams and offered comfort when she had to sew it back together again. They were not offering her any comfort now and the stability they offer felt fragile at best.

She sat heavily upon her bed and stared out the round window, her eyes closing as she listened to the dwarves sing;

" _Far over the misty mountains cold_

 _To dungeons deep and caverns old_

 _We must away ere break of day_

 _To find our long forgotten gold_

 _The pines were roaring on the height_

 _The winds were moaning in the night_

 _The fire was red, it flaming spread_

 _The trees like torches blazed with light"_

As they sang, Bilbo felt a surge of longing and lose. The song was beautiful and heartbreaking and she felt tears trail down her cheeks as she listened to those deep and sombre voices singing of a loss that she could not even begin to comprehend. She hoped they would find the right Hobbit to help them and that they would be successful in getting back their home.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This fic, while obviously possessing issues that all stories have, has been really relaxing for me to write. It's nice to be back in Middle-Earth again, especially traveling down the story-road of the Hobbit, which is so familiar to me from my childhood.

It's been a lot of fun to write young Bilbo who, as you will see here in this chapter and will be a continuing theme for many chapters to come, isn't quite as brave or forthright as she is in The Most Precious of Treasures. This will change of course, as it does in the book and movies, she will grow as a character and become the brave, clever hobbit that we all know and love. I love this character so much and I'm so happy my muse is letting me write for her again.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I will be posting Chapter 3: _Down from the door where it began_ some time next week.

Still figuring out what day will be my 'posting new chapter' day for this fic. I'm trying to set-up schedules in my life and this fic needs to have a Posting Day or I'll never get off my procrastinating butt.


	3. Down from the door where it began

**Author's Note:** First things first, Happy New Year Everyone! Hope this year is a good one for all of you.  
Secondly, I've sort of been sitting on this fic, writing bits and pieces of it here and there. One of my New Years Resolutions is to finish this fic, The Most Precious of Treasures and a couple of other fics that have just been sitting on my thumb drive for like years... 'cough'  
I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will try and not procrastinate with posting chapter 4 in the next week. Reviews are always appreciated.

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

 **Down from the door where it began**

Bilbo woke with a start the following morning, confused as to why she was sleeping on top of her covers, dressed in her favourite shirt and trousers.

She lay on the familiar quilt, staring at the early morning sunlight dancing upon her furniture in her room.

This would be the last morning she would wake in this room.

"I'm getting married today." She whispered as she sat up slowly, pulling her fingers through her curls that were tangled worse than ever from her sleeping with her hair still twisted in a sloppy bun.

She had had the strangest dreams, involving dwarves and far off treasure, homes lost and burning trees.

She shook her head and got out of bed.

Looking at her clock on her bedside table she saw she still had at least an hour to herself before several aunts and girl cousins arrived to help her with getting ready for the wedding.

Hugging her arms close around her body, she left her room and walked straight for her father's. He wouldn't be awake just yet, but it would be best to start getting him ready for the long, busy day ahead.

"Morning my dear." She stopped in astonishment just in the doorway of her Papa's room and stared Her Papa was fully dressed and sitting in his armchair. He looked tired, but there was an alertness to his hazel eyes that she hadn't seen in, well, years.

"Morn-morning Papa." She moved quickly to his side, looking about his room as she did so, taking in the fully made-bed and bedclothes packed back away into his bed chest.

"You're getting married today." He said as she came to kneel down at his side, a small frown pulling at his features.

"Yes, Papa." She forced herself to smile, "But I'm not going anywhere. Lotho will be moving here and we'll be together as always."

"And you will be even more unhappy than you were before." Her dear papa muttered his expression filled with sorrow and regret.

"Papa…"

"Gandalf came and visited me last night." Her father continued and she sucked in a frantic breath.

"Papa, what-whatever that-that wizard said to you, you don't need to worry about it! I said no. I said no to going with them."

"No." Her father shook his head.

"Papa?"

"I don't," he looked up and away from her, his eyes turning to the distance for a moment before the light returned to them, "I don't want you not to go because of me."

"What?"

"Do you want to go, Darling?"

"I…" She stammered, staring at her father in disbelief. They – how were they having this conversation? She hadn't had such a stable and coherent conversation with her papa in years and _this_ was to be the first conversation that they shared?

"I know you do." Her father said, touching her face, "You are your mother's daughter after all. You have been wanting to go on adventures from the moment you could walk."

"Papa, this is… quite different." She whispered, leaning against the arm of her father's chair, "this isn't one of Mama's adventures where she was only gone for a few weeks. I will be gone for months and there-there's meant to be…" she couldn't bring herself to say dragon, her heart sped up just thinking the word in her head.

"I don't want you not to go because of me." Her papa repeated softly, running his hand through her hair. "If you want to go… you-you have my blessing."

She blinked her eyes slowly as she lifted her head up from the arm of the chair and stared up at her father.

"You-you _what_? You're giving me your blessing to… Papa, what about the wedding? What about you? I can't just leave you and all my responsibilities!"

"You can," Her papa said firmly, "and if you wish to go on this adventure, you must." He touched her cheek, "Do you want to go?"

"More than anything," She whispered, "But I… I'm scared Papa. So scared. It will be dangerous and I will be away from home, from the Shire for a very long time."

"All that is new is scary, darling. But if you do not go, if you stay here and marry today, I know you will regret it forever and-and I cannot bear for you to continue to be so unhappy with your life."

"Oh, Papa…" She hugged him tightly, "I love you so much. With all my heart."

"But you must go." He replied with a sad smile, "you must follow your heart and your heart right now is not here, it is not in the Shire, it wants to be free to wander the world and see incredible things. And that's why you must go, for if you stay, your heart will break and all that makes you wonderful will fade and the fire within you will die."

"Papa… are you sure?" She whispered.

"No," he laughed as tears rolled down his cheeks, " but I cannot hold you back any longer from living your life."

"Never, Papa."

"Go darling and stay safe. Promise me, for I know you must go, but promise me that you will stay safe and return to me once your adventure is complete."

"I promise Papa. I will return, I promise." She kissed his forehead before running from his room to her own.

Within minutes she had a sturdy pack packed and ready to go. She had changed out of the clothes she had slept in into her favourite walking outfit; her mother's old walking stick in hand.

She dashed into her front parlour, relieved when she saw that the contract still sat where it had been left the night before.

She picked it up, pausing for a moment to let the weight of her decision truly sink in. Was she really going to do this? She had papa's blessing, yes, but even so…

"Bilbo! Rise and shine darling girl!"

 _Oh no…_

Was it-was it really that time already?

She looked frantically at the clock upon the mantelpiece above the fireplace and saw that yes, it was the agreed upon time that her aunts, grandmother and cousins were to arrive at Bag End to help her get ready for the wedding. She had hoped to be away before they arrived but now…

"Billanna Baggins! Come along now, there is much to be done and very little time to do it in, especially if you going to spend the whole day dragging your feet!" Her Aunt Belba Baggins called, knocking up her door impatiently. "And what on earth happened to your doorbell?"

"I-I'll be there in a moment?" Bilbo called back in a panic, forcing herself to think. She could always leave by her back door and loop back around the hill that way, but… she had wanted to talk to the Gamgees before she started her adventure.

"My dear?" She jumped when she saw her father was up and about, holding a walking stick with tight knuckles but otherwise standing steady upon his own two feet.

"Papa…" She breathed, "what-how…"

"I do not truly know my dear," her father admitted with a small amazed smile. "But for the first time in years, I have felt like I am in possession of my own mind, that I have the strength to face the day."

"I…"

He shook his head, still smiling and holding out a familiar red walking coat to her.

"For you. To remember me by while you are away."

"But Papa, this is your favourite coat, Mama made it for you…"

Her father shrugged.

"Then you will have both of us with you. Always." He said as she removed the old weather-beaten coat that had belonged to her mother.

"Thank you, Papa." She said as she pulled on the beautiful red coat, it was warm and sturdy, oiled so as to be waterproof.

"Always, dearest!"

"Billanna! What on earth are you doing?" Her female relatives were yelling now.

"Cold feet." She heard one cousin giggled.

"Go, Darling, out the-the window with you." Her father said ushering her towards the parlour larger window, "I will buy you time." He smiled before his face crumbled.

"Oh, Papa!" She hugged him tightly.

"Stay-stay safe my girl. And-and come-come back to me."

"I will, I swear to you, I will return. I will come back." She held on to him for another moment or two, before she stepped backwards, blinking back tears but smiling, oh she was smiling so hard her face hurt.

"Bye." She opened the window and climbed quietly out the window, able to see just around the curve of the hill, her female relative chattering anxiously to themselves as her Aunt Belba continued to knock on her door with growing urgency.

"Billanna final… Bungo?" Bilbo bit back a delighted laugh at her aunt and the rest of her present female relative's startled cries as her Father opened the door for them.

"Go-Good morning dear sister." She heard her father greet her aunt, "Do-do come in."

"Bungo, you're-you're up and about, I can't believe it." Her aunt was crying as she and Bilbo's cousins started filing into her Hobbit-hole. When she heard the door close behind them, she darted forward, her feet not making a sound as she ran down her front steps and leapt over her front gate, not even bothering to open it.

On quick and silent feet, Bilbo ran down the path, heading down for number 3 Bagshot Row, the Hobbit-hole that belonged to the Gamgees, her family's faithful gardeners and dear friends.

"Good morning Master Bilbo!" Hamfast Gamgee greeted her from his front garden, where he and his wife were arranging beautiful flowers into bunches, their four young children playing around their feet. They let out excited squeals when they saw her, gleefully stopping their game to rush to their front gate, all four of them clambering for her attention.

"Good morning." She laughed, ruffling the summer sun-kissed hair of each child.

"How may we help you this morning, Master Bilbo?" Hamfast asked, moving over to stand in front of her.

"I have a favour to ask Hamfast. It is a rather big one, but there is no one I trust more than you or your family to keep."

"Of course," Hamfast said, his brow moving forward a little as he took in for the first time her outfit, the walking stick she held in one hand and the bulging pack on her back, "What is it, Master Bilbo?"

"I need you for you to keep an eye out for my father for a while. And Bag End. Just keep an eye on him. Visit him occasionally if you would be so kind, for morning or afternoon tea maybe. I know it's a lot to ask," She continued quickly, seeing Hamfast open his mouth to speak, "so much to ask, but you are the only people that I trust to do this and – and," she smiled softly, "he is so much better, so much. It's… incredible."

"Certainly, Master Bilbo, you need not worry about that, but aren't you staying in Bag End after you wed?" Hamfast asked looking back at his wife in confusion.

"I'm not." Bilbo said firmly, "I'm not getting married today… or any day after."

"Bu then, what is… where are _you_ going, if I may be so bold to ask?" Hamfast questioned looking more than a little taken aback by her words. She felt her wide grin return as she leant forward in conspiracy fashion.

"I'm going on an adventure." The four children gasped in delight while their parents simply stared at her dumbfounded.

"BILLANNA BAGGINS?!" She heard her aunt shout down the hill from the top of the hill. She had not yet seen Bilbo, but it would only be a matter of time before her younger girl cousins were sent after her.

"Please Hamfast." She pleaded as she looked from him to his wife, both in turn stared at each of for a long moment before they looked back at her.

"Of course, Master Bilbo." Hamfast's wife, Bell, said taking hold of Bilbo's hand and giving it a tight squeeze, "Of course we will, but please, please take care of yourself. The world is wild outside of the Shire."

"Yes, I know." She smiled at the Gamgee family, thanking them again before she was running again, running like she hadn't done so since she was still in her early tweens when her mother was still alive and she had been free to play and run.

She ignored the many calls of her name, laughing as she went. She must have appeared quite mad but Bilbo couldn't bring herself to care, she just kept on running.

She didn't know exactly where her feet were taking her, but she heard enough people commenting about seeing dwarves and wizard as she ran past them that she just allowed herself to keep going.

She came across them halfway to Bywater, riding upon ponies and chattering loudly to each other.

"Wait!" She called, waving the contract above her head, "Wait!"

She heard several dwarves calling 'Woah' as they pulled their ponies to a halt, Gandalf upon his great horse, grinned widely at the sight of her.

"I signed it!" She quickly trotted over to Balin's pony, holding it out for him to take. He looked down at her with an inquisitive gaze, but took the contract without question, inspecting the parchment over with a pocket-glass.

"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Mistress Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield." There were a few cheers but to Bilbo, she didn't feel quite so welcomed in the company of the Dwarves as she had the previous night.

They couldn't possibly be upset with her for needing a night to sort out her thoughts on whether she should come or not. It wasn't as if she had been given much time to think it over.

"Give her a pony." Thorin barked and Bilbo felt herself shrink a little under his cold gaze. He hadn't been that hostile towards her last night, so… why?

"Come on Lassie," Bofur, the dwarf with the funny hat and who had taken such delight in teasing her last night, was off his pony and walking towards her leading it and another. "This one yours."

"Oh, um," she felt a surge of panic. She hadn't ever ridden a pony before. It wasn't the common thing for hobbits to do. Ponies were used to pull carts not for riding.

"I don't… I've never ridden before." She heard exasperated sighs around her but Bofur was kind and patient as he showed her how to mount, how to hold her reigns and how to control the pony with her knees.

"This lovely girl is a gentle soul," he reassured her once she was seated and her knuckles were white upon the reigns, "she'll follow after the pony in front of her."

"Oh… good." Bilbo squeaked, swallowing thickly.

She bit hard down on her lower lip when the pony suddenly started moving without any prompting from her, a slow walk after the pony in front of her.

All around her she could hear the dwarves conversing once more, some grumbling while others seemed quite pleased with themselves. When she had the strength to look up from where her hands were clenched upon the reigns, she noticed small bags where being tossed all around.

"What's that about?" she asked no one in particular, though Gandalf coming to ride beside her was quick to answer.

"Oh, they took wagers on whether or not you'd turn up. Most of them bet that you wouldn't."

Despite herself, Bilbo felt herself bristle with indignation. They didn't know her reasons for her initial reluctance to join this quest! No one had bothered to even ask her!

"What did you think?" She asked the wizard who simply smiled as he caught a large sack of coin that was tossed his way with one hand, tucking it into his belt.

"My dear girl, I never doubted you for a second."

"Oh really?" She replied a little sardonically.

"So, what did you do?" She asked causing the wizard to look back her, his eyes questioning, "To Papa? You did something to him. You must have. You made him… better?"

Gandalf smiled, his eyes filled with relief.

"I hoped as much."

"Will it last?" She asked suddenly filled with a new wave of worry, "whatever you did to him, will it last? Or does it only last for a little time and he will lose himself within his mind again."

"Bilbo," Gandalf said gently, "I cleared away some of your father's mind-sickness, but like with all great sicknesses, once it takes root, there is always a weakness, but…" He continued upon seeing her stricken expression, "your father will have his mind for quite some time. I do not know how long exactly, but it will be for a number of years, I do believe."

"Oh," Bilbo closed her eyes breathing out deeply, "that's – that's good, so very good. I've-I've missed him." She bit her lip and looked away from the wizard.

"Thank you, though I suspect your motives were of a selfish nature to get me to come along on this quest. But even if that is the case, thank you. Thank you for returning Papa back to me… back to himself."

Gandalf gave her a small sad smile.

"You are most welcome my dear girl."

Bilbo nodded before wincing as the pony jolted her awkwardly to one side. Bilbo grabbed desperately at the pony's mane as an attempt to keep her upright, only for her to get instead a face full of horse hair.

She sneezed. And sneezed again.

She had always had a funny reaction around animals, unable to stay long around cats before she started sneezing and feeling itchy.

If she went on to have a similar reaction with the ponies, then this was going to be a most unpleasant adventure indeed.

She rubbed her nose as she fought back another sneeze. Holding her nose with one hand, she searched her pockets for a handkerchief.

"Oh, no." She groaned as her questing figured found no handkerchief in any of her pockets. Maybe in her pack, but she doubted it. No, in her mad rush to get out her door, she had completely forgotten to pack any handkerchief.

"Blast."

"What's the matter?" Bofur called back to her, grinning brightly as he took in her obvious discomfort.

"Nothing, I just… forgot something, a handkerchief. Probably no chance of going back, yes?" her query was immediately met with laughter and she sighed again.

"You'll have to manage without pocket-handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins before we reach our journey's end." Gandalf chuckled, lightly shaking his head, "You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you; the world is ahead."

"Home is now behind you," Bilbo repeated softly, "the world is ahead. And there are many paths to tread…" a small smile pulled at her mouth as words to a new tune started rolling around in her head.

It had been a long while since she had felt a spark of inspiration to make a new tune and despite her discomfort with riding and the horsehair and the way she seemed to be ignored by the dwarves as they chattered over her head.

As she stared out at the rolling landscape of the Shire, the words flowed like they hadn't for so long and under her breath; she softly started to sing;

" _Home is behind, the world ahead,_

 _And there are many paths to tread._

 _Through shadows to the edge of night,_

 _Until the stars are all alight."_


	4. Beyond the Rolling Hills of Home

**Chapter 4**

 **Beyond the Rolling Hills of Home**

It took several nights, and the leaving the boundaries of the Shire for Bilbo to start feeling truly homesick.

In the daytime, as with most things, her worries and doubt were easier to ignore. She was able to distract herself with talking with Gandalf or if she was feeling particularly bold, she would strike up a conversation with one of dwarves. She had been quick to learn which of the dwarves to avoid and who were friendly to talk with.

The Broadbeam brothers and their cousin were by far the easiest and most good natured of the dwarves to be around – even if originally Bifur had quite unnerved her with his erratic behaviour. They welcomed her with open arms, eagerly including her in their conversations if she showed even the slightest interest.

They also teased her merciless, especially Bofur, who seemed to take particular delight in making her blush over something he said. He never said anything too vulgar, just teasing comments that most hobbit lads would not say within the hearing range of a hobbit lass that at first had her blushing but by the third day he had her giggling softly into her hand.

He made life easier, his laid-back acceptance and good nature made her feel at ease even when she could feel the frustration of other dwarves when she was being too slow at mounting her pony or she had trouble waking up to do her shift of the nightly watch.

 _Silly things_ , Bilbo thought, but things that they took offense to all the same.

The nights were harder.

The nights were when she felt truly excluded, for Gandalf would go sit by himself, smoking his pipe while the Broadbeams would be drawn into conversations by the campfire, conversations that were spoken mostly in the native tongue of dwarves.

She was probably overthinking it when she thought that this was done on purpose to exclude her but all the same, her heart ached and she longed for home all the more strongly. Not that she had always fitted in there either, but at least she had had her books for company and everyone spoke the same language, so if any ill was being spoken about her, she could call them out on it.

She spent nights either curled up with her sketchbook or trying to getting to know her pony – and the rest of them too – better.

The pony had been as jittery of Bilbo, as Bilbo had been of her and that made the whole ordeal of riding just that bit more frightening. The last thing she wanted or needed was for her pony to throw her off because she had sensed Bilbo was frighten.

And seeing as she wasn't going to become fast friends with the dwarves anytime soon, Bilbo decided she would at least try and befriend the ponies, starting with her own, and that meant the pony needed a name.

When the dwarves had purchased the ponies from Bree, the ponies were without names – or more likely Bilbo suspected, the dwarves had simply not bothered to ask – and proceeded to leave the poor dears nameless, despite having owned them now for several weeks.

Bilbo had been somewhat annoyed on behalf of the ponies when Bofur had told her this when he had been trying to teach her how to ride and she had asked if her pony had a name. She had decided then and there, that she would name each and every single one of the ponies.

She named hers that very day, in the attempted to build a friendship with the creature, to make them both comfortable with each other.

"You, my dear," Bilbo had said by mid-afternoon that first day, patting the pony's head in what she hoped was a soothing manner, "I'm going to name you Myrtle after my favourite shrub in the Shire."

And from there, the naming of ponies began.

She didn't know if the dwarves were only humouring her when they didn't put forward any protest to her naming the ponies and were secretly laughing behind her back. They could have been for all she knew, but in the end that thought did little to stop her.

She continued the pattern of naming the ponies after different flowers or plants, all except for one male pony, whom reminded her so much like her dear Papa – if he were for some bizarre reason turned into a pony – that his name became Bungo and Bilbo didn't have the heart to try and change it when it was picked up by several dwarves. Which she hadn't been expecting at all, and she didn't think they had either, given the surprised looks some of them wore when they found themselves addressing their ponies by the names she had given them. For despite how they might feel in regards to her, and she figured their opinion was pretty low, they seemed to have enough respect for her to continue using the names she had given their ponies. It wasn't much, but it was a start at least and she supposed that was something.

 **HiBtWH**

Bilbo lay awake, curled up under her mother's travel blanket. The blanket had a slightly musty smell to it but if Bilbo buried her nose just that little bit deeper, she could still pick up traces of her mother. It helped ease some of the suffocating homesickness she was currently suffering from.

She should be sleeping. She'd be worse than useless tomorrow if she didn't sleep for at least a few hours but her mind simply wouldn't settle and her stomach was twisting itself into nervous knots.

It had been two weeks now since she had left home, and they were well out of the Shire, travelling into the wilderness Bilbo only knew about from her mother's stories and maps.

There was certainly beauty to be found in the wildlands outside the rolling hills of the Shire, but even so, she felt an ache for her home.

Sighing heavily, she pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around her. She could see Gandalf chewing upon his pipe on one side of the clearing they were camping in, while Balin sat by the fire. Fili and Kili were chattering quietly away to each other on the side of it, their backs resting against a rock. And nearby, Thorin slept in the most awkward position imaginable, sleeping almost entirely upright – only remaining upright Bilbo was sure, by the rock at his back and sheer force of will – arms crossed and frowning for all his worth, even in his sleep.

She wondered what kind dreams he had before quickly deciding, based on the scowl gracing his face that she really didn't want to know. They couldn't be happy dreams, whatever they were.

She stretched as she stood, before trotting over to where Myrtle stood, a prized apple she had hidden in her pack earlier in the day, clutched loosely in her hand.

"Hello, girl." Bilbo greeted the pony with a hushed whisper, the hand not holding the apple reaching slowly out to stroke the pony's soft nose. The pony's ears twitched back and forth eagerly.

"Would you like a treat? Yes, of course you would," Bilbo held the apple out for the pony who chomped up the apple enthusiastically. "It's our little secret, hmmm Myrtle? You must tell no one, shush, shush." She felt a little silly to be pressing a finger to her lips as she spoke to the pony, but when the pony started rubbing her head against Bilbo's chest affectionately, Bilbo felt the silliness was well worth it.

She had just found the sweet spot behind Myrtle's ear that had the pony almost keeling over with contentment when it seemed the very air around her was erupting with the most hair-raising screams she had ever heard in all her life.

Myrtle and the rest of the ponies jerk immediately to attention, their ears swivelling back and forth rapidly as they shifted uneasily against each other, moving closer together for protection against the howling screams.

"What was that?" Bilbo hissed, stepping away from the restless ponies, and hurrying to the fireside even as the screams fell silent and the night became uneasily still.

"Orcs." Kili answered her from where he and Fili still sat, though she saw that that they had reached for their weapons all the same.

"Orcs?" She hated how high-pitch her voice had become just speaking the word that filled her heart with such dread and terror.

"Throat-cutters. There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them." Fili went on, chewing thoughtfully upon his pipe.

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep" Kili picked off where his brother finished, a wild excited gleam in his bright eyes, so similar and yet so different to Thorin. Once again she found herself wondering if the boys and Thorin were in some way related. From what she had seen of their interaction it certainly did imply there was some kind of familiar bond between them, but how close, Bilbo wasn't sure.

"Quick and quiet," Kili continued, his voice no more than a hushed whisper, "no screams, just lots of blood."

Bilbo felt sick and her mind immediately turned to the Shire, only a two weeks ride from where they were currently camping.

There were no defences in the Shire to fend off an attack; no real weapons other than antiques and a few wicked farming instruments, no soldiers. If they were attacked, they would be quickly overwhelmed and…

"You think that's funny." Bilbo almost jumped out of her skin at Thorin's voice growling through the now stillness of the night, the only noise to be heard was the still unhappy movement of the ponies.

"You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" she watched Thorin reprime the boys, the way the boys automatically wilted underneath his disapproving eyes and fierce but also disappointed scowl.

"We didn't mean anything by it Uncle." Kili spoke softly, his eyes turned downwards while Fili continued to stare at Thorin, meeting him directly in the eyes, even though every muscle in his body spoke of how he would prefer to be looking away.

"No, you didn't." Thorin responded, his words oddly gruff. "You know nothing of the world."

Both boys flinched and Fili's head immediately dropped to stare into his lap, while Kili played anxiously with the string of his bow.

 _They want so much to impress him, to make him proud_ , Bilbo thought as she watched the almost sad looks the two boy sent each other when Thorin finally turned away from them, stalking past her without even a glance to stand at the edge of the clearing that dropped off into a valley, his body stiff with tension.

She listened silently by the fireside as Balin told the boys – and her too. She had made to leave at first because after a week of dwarves stopping their conversations whenever she came near, she had been quick to realise how much they distasted outsiders learning any snippets of information about them, but Balin had been quick to wave her back, to sit and listen as he spoke – the story of the battle for Azanulbizar.

She had read about such battles in her books, but the battle Balin painted inside her head in his sad, steady voice made her heart pull in ways it had never done when she was reading about them.

She was almost overcome with sense of helplessness and despair when suddenly Balin's voice shifted from unspoken sadness to one of controlled hope as he looked out and over her head, in the direction of where Thorin still stood.

"That's when I saw him," Balin spoke with a small smile, "a young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc."

 _Prince….?_

"He stood alone against this terrible foe, his arm rent… wielding nothing by an oaken branch as a shield."

 _Oaken branch? Shield?_

Her eyes shifted to where she knew Thorin's pack still stood and there, sure enough, was the strange branch of oak she had been wanting to ask about since that first night of meeting the dwarves seated proudly against it. She had suspected that the oak branch had had something to do with his name 'Oakenshield', but never had she dreamed the story behind the branch and the origin of his name would be as epic as the one Balin was telling!

"Azog, the Defiler," Balin continued, "learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken." A warm, relieved expression crossed the old dwarf's kindly face, "Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated." His face fell once more and the unspeakable sadness entered his gentle wise eyes. "But there was no feast, no song that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived."

"But," Balin said after a long sad pause, his eyes once more resting upon Thorin's back from where he still stood upon the cliff edge, "I thought to myself then, there is one who I could follow. There is one I could call King."

 _King?!_

Bilbo sank further where she sat by the fire, her heart pounding madly in her chest.

 _Thorin was a king?_

A King without a kingdom for obviously that was the point of this quest, but even so… he was still a king and she… she wasn't even a burglar.

 _Stop that!_ She scolded herself even as her cheeks burnt.

She had almost forgotten (or pushed to the very back of her mind) about her silly little crush on Thorin in the past two weeks of being so blatantly ignored by him, but the little ember inside her chest had lit itself once more with Balin's story and refused to be squashed for the time being.

She stared into the campfire, rolling the details of Balin's story over in her head. There was just one detail that was bugging her, a detail that was always mention in all her books about epic battles of good fighting evil.

What happened to the villain of the piece? It was a detail that was never missed in any of her books and yet here, Balin did not say a word of what had become of the Pale Orc Azog.

"What became of him?" she found herself asking before she could stop herself, "The pale orc? What happened to him?" In for a penny, in for a pound, as her paternal grandmother liked to say.

She could hear heavy boots walking behind her, and tried to keep her back as straight and stiff as possible, to not shrink away as Thorin stomped into view.

"He slunk back into the hole from whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." He growled staring down at her with his scorching blue gaze.

She bite down upon her lower lip and nodded silently. She hadn't wanted him to hear her question, to anger him with it…

Satisfied that she wasn't going to ask anything else stupid, Thorin went back to the rock he had been dozing against earlier, slid down into a sitting position and pulled out his sword and a whetting stone.

She watched him silently for a few moments, at the ease of his movements as he took care of his sword.

"Come on Lass." Balin said not unkindly as he moved to her side. "There are still a few hours left before dawn and you should try and get some sleep."

"Oh… yes, um, alright." She hopped lightly to her feet, her arms wrapping around herself.

"You look like you have more questions." Balin said softly as they walked over to where her travel blanket.

"I do, but that's just a general state of being for me." She shrugged, "I like learning, but I know…" She paused, staring down at her twisting fingers, "that dwarves are a very private race and I don't, I mean, I'd… I don't want to step on anyone's toes by asking questions that might be deemed to…" She floundered for a moment or two before Balin saved her with a smile.

"Come to me," He offered, "And I will answer what I feel I can."

"Thank you." She smiled in relief, "I don't want to ask anything that is considered inappropriate or for information that is not meant for outsiders ears, it just… hobbits, we don't have such restrictions – except with maybe some of our prized recipes." She received a small amused smile from Balin, "Knowledge, what little we have, is free for all." She paused and gave a light laugh, "I guess that is what makes us such a simple race. We value food and family over epic histories and ancient secrets. Anyway," she waved her hands in front of her, blushing, "I'm babbling and you want to sleep. Um, thank you again." She smiled a little shyly as she ducked her head before scurrying into her travel blanket.

She swore she heard several snorts of amusement around her but said nothing of it, instead she tried to settle down into her blanket and for sleep to come and take her away.

For the rest of the night, she dreamed of great battles, of swords clashing into shields, of the ground being splattered with blood and the air being filled with screams.

When she woke the following morning, with a headache pressing against her temple, she pray fervently that upon this venture that she would never have to face a battle as great or as terrible as the Battle of Azanulbizar.


	5. Ever on, the road goes on

**Author's Note:** First things first, I am not very good a writing chapters that purely involve traveling. The amount of re-writes this chapter and chapter 4 went through were... let just say a lot. It's not that I don't like what I've written, but rather I just don't feel like I got the flow right. But I can't bear to to fiddle with chapter again and I really just want to get onto chapter 6. Which has been written for months now because I couldn't wait to write Roast Mutton and all the stuff with the Trolls. That chapter has been pretty much written to completion since August 2017. I stayed up until 2 o'clock in the morning because I was so into writing that chapter, so I'm really excited to post that chapter up next... maybe next weekend, depending on my week.

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **Ever on, the road goes on**

Bilbo had always loved the rain as a child. She had loved the smell of it, the way it seemed to wash all the bad from the world, leaving it clean and fresh once more. But when her mother died on a cold rainy day and subsequently buried on a day just as wet, Bilbo's love for wet weather had decreased significantly.

And at the moment, she utterly detested it. Normally, she could bear a summer shower – it was winter rain storms that held the brunt of her dislike – but it had been raining all day and along with forgetting to bring even one handkerchief, she had not thought to bring a raincoat. Or rather, she had, she had just forgotten to pack it into her backpack. She knew exactly where it was, where she had thrown it in her mad dash to grab everything she thought she might need for her mad venture and had utterly forgotten to grab it up again when she had been clambering out her front parlour window.

Her gut gave another uncomfortable twist as a particularly frosty drop of water rolled under her collar and down her spine causing her to shiver.

It was the middle of May, for goodness sake! It was not meant to be so cold!

She slouched lower in her saddle, blinking from beneath her soaked curls at the line of ponies in front of her. At least the dwarves looked to be as miserable as she did now, even dressed as they were in thick leathers and furs.

They had teased her mercilessly at first when they saw that she was without a cloak or hat to protect her from the wet weather. She was well and truly soaked by the time one of them (Bombur, bless his large heart) took pity on her and offered her a previously forgotten spare cloak to use.

She had refused, at the time, stating rather primly that she was already far too wet for the cloak to be much use and she would just weather it out (Pun intended and utterly missed by the dwarves, the uncultured swine's!).

That was what she had said at the time and since then, she had grown to regret her decision. Yes, she was already wet, but she was also rather cold now, with her teeth chattering in time with her shivers.

The cloak would have helped to warm her up, but her pride had been hurt by the dwarves teasing and it was her pride that was stopping her from asking for the cloak now. She refused to give the dwarves any kind of satisfaction over her being useless and unprepared for this journey.

 _So instead, you'll catch a cold for the sake of your pride_ , her Baggins side grumbled bitterly.

With frozen fingers, Bilbo pinched her nose, fighting back a sigh.

 _I never said it was a smart plan_ , she groused back, pouting out at the rain.

"Here, Mr Gandalf," She heard Dori call from somewhere in the line, a hint of a whine to his voice, "can't you do something about this deluge?"

Bilbo lifted her head curiously to stare at the wizard, who was riding nearby upon his horse, looking a bedraggled as the rest of them.

 _If he could_ , she thought tetchily, _don't you think he would have done so already?_

"It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done." Gandalf called back, his temper clearly as close to the brink as her own, "If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard."

Bilbo immediately felt her curiosity pique at the mention of other wizards. Were there other wizards in the world? Bit silly, really, to think the Gandalf was the only one, the world was a rather large place after all.

"Are there any?" She asked, raising her voice over the grumbles of dwarves and the rain falling upon the ground.

"What?" Gandalf demanded though his tone was not unkind.

"Other wizards?" She gave Myrtle's side a gentle tap to coax the pony forward so that they were walking alongside Gandalf and his horse.

"There are five of us." Gandalf replied and Bilbo blinked in surprise.

 _So few?_ She marvelled, _but the world is so big, how could there be so few?_

"The greatest of our order is Saruman, the White. Then there are the two blue wizards…" He paused for a moment before letting out a small huffing laugh, "you know, I've quite forgotten their names."

"You forgot? There are only five of you and yet you still forgot the names of two?" Bilbo asked, somewhat shocked. She could without fail name every single Hobbit who lived in Hobbiton. To forget anyone's name in the Shire was considered a great offense to one's person.

"It has been a great many years since I saw either of them," Gandalf replied soundly a little tetchy, "They wandered off into the East and were never seen or heard of again."

Bilbo opened her mouth to ask why no one had tried to go and find them before thinking better on it.

"And who is the fifth?" she asked instead, deciding now might not be the best time to press him further regarding the missing two wizards.

"Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown." Gandalf responded with a fond note to his voice. "He is a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always Evil will look to find a foothold in the world."

She chewed on this information for a moment.

"And you're Gandalf, the Grey?" She added for no particular reason other than to speak the confirmation out loud.

"Indeed," Gandalf nodded with an amused look

"Why are there wizards?" Bilbo asked after silence reigned for several moments.

"Hmm?"

"In the world, why are there wizards? And why so few? Are wizards born? Or does it take many years of hard work to earn the title of wizard?" Around them she could hear grumbles and sighs of exasperation, while at the same time she saw sparks of curiosity from the younger dwarves. Even Bofur looked over at Gandalf with some level of interest, but maybe he was simply so bored he would be glad to listen to anything anyone had to say at this point.

And maybe it was her imagination but she swore she saw Thorin throw a searching glance over his shoulder back at them.

She turned her attention back to Gandalf, suddenly worried that she might have overstepped the same invisible line that she always seemed to be crossing when it came to asking questions of the dwarves when the wizard continued to remain silent for longer than a minute. It was another few seconds before Bilbo realised that Gandalf was shaking with silent laughter, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

"And which, my dear hobbit, of those questions would you like me to answer first? For each answer I give will be long and many a tale may devolve from it."

"Pick." Bilbo near begged, "I don't mind. Pick any of my questions to answer, for I can assure you that any one you pick, only new questions will form inside my head."

Gandalf gave her soft fond look.

"Not all answers are in your books?"

She huffed

"Only because no one has yet to write them down." She retorted tartly and Gandalf only laughed again.

"Then answer your questions I shall, my dear hobbit and I will expect to find them again in the book that you shall someday write about this venture."

And that was how the afternoon was spent, Bilbo asking a multitude of questions about the life of a wizard which Gandalf answered without hesitation, with a free smile and bright glint to his eye. She was still cold and soaked to the bone, but the warmth of knowledge distracted her from numb fingers and frozen toes.

And she did as Gandalf suggested; when they stopped for the night and she was huddle under Bombur's spare cloak in fresh, if slightly damp, clothes from her pack, she wrote down all that she had learnt about wizards and their ways down in her sketch book. Briefly hoping as she did so, that maybe one day the dwarves would not be so tight lipped about aspect of their culture and she could add them into her book too.

She had already written up the Battle of Azanulbizar – she had checked with Balin first if that was alright. The elderly dwarf had seemed surprised by her request but did not deny her – along with a few observations she had made of her own, but compared to what she had learnt about wizards in just one afternoon, her knowledge of dwarves was as pitiful as ever, even with Balin's kind offer to answer any of her questions that he felt that he could. But after the first few attempts of trying to take him up on his offer and proceeding to be scowled at by either Dwalin, Gloin or worst of all Thorin, Bilbo had but given up trying.

 _Fine_ , she had huffed when she had received a particularly glowing scowl from Thorin and an apologetic look from Balin before she stomped away, _keep your secrets. I didn't want to know them anyway!_

The homesickness had been even worse that night and she had laid awake for hours, just staring up at the night sky, wishing with all her heart that she was back home in the Shire.

Why did the dwarves dislike her so much? What could she have possibly done to make them hate her?

It was thoughts such as these that kept her up at night. That and terrible snoring.

 **HiBtWH**

Bilbo hummed softly under her breath as she rode along on Myrtle, watching the morning sun stretch out across the field they were currently riding through.

She was tired after a particularly awful night of not sleeping more than a handful of hours at best and was trying to keep herself a wake by singing every song she knew (including a few of her own) from the Shire.

"That's an odd little tune yer humming there." Bofur spoke up, appearing suddenly at her side.

"Oh, is it?" She deflated a little. She had been rather fond of the tune, for it was one of her very own.

"Not bad," he corrected himself quickly upon seeing her downcast face, "just odd. Any words?"

"Ah, oh, um, well." She was blushing and stuttering, an annoying habit that had development upon the first time she had had a proper conversation with Bofur and he had been teasing her about crochet. The dwarf only made it worse by grinning widely at her flustered expression.

"It's a working progress." She finally was able to stutter out lamely, trying and failing to frown at his amused expression.

"Ya write songs?" Bofur asked, the impossibly cheerful dwarf seemed to grow ridiculously happier with this revelation.

"I, well, I don't know if you could go so far as calling them songs, exactly. They're just little things, really, nothing more than party tunes, nothing like…" she thought of the beautiful deep song of heartbreak and loss that had been sung in her front parlour by the dwarves. Its beauty had moved her as no hobbit song ever had.

"Ah, that's all grand and such, but ya can't go singing them all tha time. Nah, need a good pub song now an' again." Bofur grinned at her. "Ya say ya write party songs."

She bit back a sigh, rolling her eyes at the dwarf's persistence.

"They're not very good," She warned him quietly, her eyes darting around to make sure none of the dwarves who thought poorly of her, say Thorin were near enough to hear her. Once she was certain she was free to sing without being scold, she softly sang the first verse of her 'Man in the Moon' song that she had written for the birthday of her oldest Took uncle.

" _There is an inn, a merry old inn_

 _Beneath an old grey hill,_

 _And there they brew the beer so brown_

 _That the Man in the Moon himself came down_

 _One night to drink his fill."_

She felt the familiar thrill that she always felt after singing. Even if it was only one verse, she was smiling and buzzing to sing more.

"Ah," she looked at Bofur who seemed to be at a loss for words for once, "ya-ya have a pretty voice, lass." Maybe it was just her imagination, but the dwarf seemed to be going red beneath his beard.

She let out a small laugh.

"My one saving grace according to my paternal grandmother," she chuckled, shaking her head, "I can't play an instrument worth my salt or dance without stepping on toes – I don't feel the heart of music according to my Grandmama Baggins – but I was blessed with a pair of good pipes." She went on to explain, rolling her eyes. "Thank goodness I did or I might have been kicked out of the Baggins family." She snorted, wondering if that was exactly what had happened since she ran away from home.

"Is there any more?" Bofur asked pulling her from her darker thoughts.

"Yes, a few more verses." She admitted a little shyly.

"Let's hear 'em, then."

She sang softly at first, but with some coaxing from Bofur and then some more from his brother and cousin, she was singing as she would if she were visiting her cousins in Tuckborogh or Brandy Hall.

By the end of 'Man in the Moon', she didn't even care that Thorin was watching her over his shoulder, she just kept on singing, teaching the dwarves to hobbit songs, and some of her own, and by lunch that day, she had Bofur belting out 'Man in the Moon' at the top of his lungs, word for word, while she was laughing so hard she almost fell off Myrtle.

It was the first truly pleasant day she had had on this adventure. So of course, it couldn't last.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Next chapter, ROAST MUTTON! You have no idea how excited I am to post the next chapter. It was one of my absolute favourite chapters in the book as a kid and I really liked the tweak the movie gave it. Obviously I've added my own tweak to this chapter which I hope you will all enjoy when you read it. Which will hopefully be next weekend. Again depending on how my week has been or how many reviews this chapter gets. Not hunting for reviews, but if people are really excited about reading the next chapter, I'll do my best to post it earlier.

Thank you all very much for reading, how you enjoyed and I'll see you again with _Chapter 6: Roast Mutton_!


	6. Roast Mutton

**Author's Note:** This chapter in the book and the movie was one of the main reasons I wanted to write my own version of the Hobbit. Because I love it so much. It never fails to make me smile whether I'm re-reading the chapter in the book or watching the movie for the 100th time, I just love this chapter and writing with my own flaw was a dream come true. I had so much fun writing this chapter. It was so easy to write and mix bits from the book, the movie as well my own stuff and it all blend into something that I'm pretty happy with.

This chapter does lean more heavily towards the events that happened in the movie with Trolls rather than the book, purely because Bilbo is more of an active character in the movie than he was in the book, where after he fails to steal the purse for William, he hides himself while the Dwarves get caught one by one and then its Gandalf who saves the day. I, like the movie, changed that, but there are still some of the fun elements from the book thrown in here.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it.

Please enjoy

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 **Roast Mutton**

That evening the company came upon the ruins of an old, abandon farmhouse that sent shivers down Bilbo's spine. The longer she looked at the ruins, the greater her unease grew though she didn't know quite why.

She grimaced when she heard Thorin ordering for camp to be set-up within the ruins of the house. The sick feeling her gut only grew when she saw that Gandalf looked to be as unsettled as she felt about staying the night in the ruined farmhouse.

"Ya alright lass?" Bofur asked as she moved to help him and Bombur start to unburden Bombur's pony, Poppy, of her packs of food and cooking utensils.

Bilbo shrugged her shoulders, her gaze continually flicking nervously towards the ruined farmhouse and to where Thorin and Gandalf appeared to be having an argument.

She chewed heavily upon her lower lip as she listen to Thorin snarl furiously at Gandalf about the betrayal of elves and how they did not wanted nor require any help from them. She couldn't hear what Gandalf said in return, only that the response Thorin gave had Gandalf turning on his heels in a black fury.

"Gandalf?" She said as he stormed past her in direction of his horse, "Everything alright? Gandalf," she hated how panicking her voice became as she watched the wizard swing himself up into the saddle of his horse, "where are you going?"

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense." Gandalf snapped back, the anger in his voice made her want to sink into the ground.

"Who's that?" She asked and felt immediately stupid for doing so, especially when Gandalf fixed her with a particularly irritated stare and she heard the amused snorts from the dwarves near to her.

"Myself, Master Baggins! I've had enough of dwarves for one day!" Bilbo bit down upon her lip to keep herself from saying anything else stupid as she watched with a heavy heart as he rode away.

Silence reigned heavily for several long moments as the dwarves slowly appeared to register that their wizard had just up and left them, possibly never to return.

Bilbo felt her heart stutter at the mere thought.

What if he didn't come back? Their quest would never succeed without him! She wouldn't make it a day without the wizard's company!

"Come, Bombur," Thorin angry tone broke the silences that had fallen upon them all, "we're hungry."

Bilbo glanced slowly in his direction, her eyes searching his face and was surprised to see regret in his dark gaze. The regret of course disappeared from his gaze when he saw that she was looking at him.

He shot her a hard look before he turn away to give out more orders, such as to his nephews who were to look after the ponies and make sure they stayed safe during the night. Which Bilbo took to mean that Thorin had taken some of Gandalf unease regarding the ruin farmhouse to heart.

With her own heart still pounding erratically in her chest, she moved quickly to Balin's side.

"Is he coming back?" She asked, desperate for reassurance that she felt only the old dwarf could give. Her heart twisted painfully when he could only give her an uncertain look as he lay a gentle hand upon her shoulder before he moved away, leaving her alone to look hopelessly in the direction Gandalf had ridden away in.

She crossed her arms tightly around her middle and wonder why everyone she cared about seemed to leave her.

 **HiBtWH**

Bilbo shifted unhappily from one foot to the other, trying to see through the growing darkness for any sign that the cranky old wizard was returning from the direction he had left in. Or in any direction really. For though Bilbo had come to realise that her eyes were actually quite sharp, she was still unable to make out anything in the growing darkness.

"He's been gone an awfully long time," She worried as she paced back to the campfire where Bombur was serving their dinner into bowls that were being handed out by Bofur.

"Who?" Bofur asked, not looking at all bothered. Though as Bilbo was learning, it took a lot to ruffle the feathers of this particular dwarf who was certainly the most laid back fellow she had ever known and that was saying something, considering the general nature of most hobbits.

"Gandalf." She replied, biting down heavily upon her bottom lip, standing on her tippy toes to peek over the heads of dwarves so that she might continue to peer into the darkness for any sign of Gandalf.

"He's a wizard!" Bofur chuckled, "He does as he chooses."

 _Well, he isn't wrong there_ , Bilbo agreed internally, but still Bofur's words did nothing to settle the butterflies in her stomach. She just felt as if something was wrong, or was going to go wrong very soon.

 _To be fair_ , her Baggins side grumbled, _you've felt that way from the moment you left home_.

 _Not true_ , her Took side retorted, before pausing as it add added quietly, _not from the_ moment _that you left home at least._

"Here," Bofur said nudging her gently and pulling her from her internal conflict, "do us a favour and take these to the lads." He held out two steaming bowls of soup. "Take yer mind off yer worrying for a bit." He added with a wink.

Bilbo gave him a weak smile in return as she took the bowls from him.

Her smile did grow a little as she heard Bofur go on to scold Bombur fort trying to take more soup from the pot.

"Save ya a bowl for when ya get back." Bofur called after her as she started to climb the slope to where Fili and Kili were watching the ponies.

"Thank you!" She called back and continued on her way.

She was a little taken aback by how long she had to spend actually trying to find the two lads, and when she did finally find them, she didn't feel all that much better, given how silent the boys were and the way they stood stock still staring into the darkness.

"What's the matter?" She asked immediately as she came to stand beside them. Both boys looked at her, their faces twisted into worried expressions that were trying to appear calm. And failing… epically.

"We're, ah, supposed to be looking after the ponies." Kili said his voice just a little higher than normal.

Bilbo scrunched up her face, already predicting what the problem was as Fili continued where Kili trailed off.

"Only we've encountered a slight problem."

"Just how many slight problems?" Bilbo sighed as she silently started counting the ponies.

"We had sixteen." Kili replied softly.

"And now…."

"There's fourteen." Bilbo finished for both brothers.

 _Well, it could be worse_ ; she forced herself to think optimistically. Only she couldn't stop thinking of how uncomfortable Gandalf had been at the idea of staying the night in the ruins of the farmhouse. Something big had destroyed it and as much as Bilbo wanted to believe it had just been a storm, her gut was telling her it had been something much worse.

Panic started building in her chest.

"L-let's," She stuttered and it took several false starts before she was able to voice her idea, "Let's go around and count the ponies again and see whose missing. They're not too distressed, so-so maybe the missing two have just wandered off. No good comes of thinking the worst first."

The two boys agreed with her and she shoved their bowls of soup into their hands to eat, while she walked around the area that they had left the ponies in for the night.

 _This is why you tie them up_ , Bilbo grumbled silently to herself.

She was relieved to see that darling Myrtle was not one of the two who had disappeared, but of course one of the missing ponies would have to be the one she had named after her father.

"I named you after him because you were docile and liked sleeping!" Bilbo complained quietly as she trudged back to the two boys.

"Daisy and Bungo are the ponies who are missing." She informed them.

"The one you named after your Papa?" Kili asked, obviously catching onto the irony she was feeling.

Bilbo rolled her eyes.

"Yes." She sighed heavily, "Well this is not good." She rubbed a hand against her face, "Not good at all. Do you think we should go get," her face twitched ever so slightly before she spoke _his_ name, "Thorin?"

She really shouldn't feel as relieved as she did when she saw the same kind of panic that she felt whenever she was around the Dwarven King displayed so clearly upon his two nephews' faces.

"Uh, no." Fili replied hurriedly, while Kili nodded vigorously beside him, "Let's not worry him."

"Uh, well, don't you think he might be a little worried when morning comes and he discovers two of our ponies are missing and he wasn't told by the two people he put in charge of watching them?" Bilbo queried raising an eyebrow at the two boys who looked at each other frantically.

"I just think it might possibly be better if we started trying to fix this now, as oppose to in the morning." Bilbo finished, waiting for the two boys to make up their mind on what they wanted to do. And if they still decided that they didn't want to go and tell Thorin, she would sneak back to camp and grab the Broadbeam cousins and see if they wouldn't mind lending a hand in the search for the wayward ponies.

"Actually," Fili spoke up finally, a look of inspiration crossing his young face, "as our official burglar," _don't you dare…_ " we thought you might like to look into it."

"They're missing, not _stolen_!" Bilbo protested in annoyance.

"You don't know that." Kili countered quickly.

"We're in the middle of nowhere! Who could possibly have stolen them! And don't," She waved her arms at the two boys, "say Orcs, because I feel that they would have cared more about attacking us than they would about stealing two ponies! And _if_ they were after the ponies, why only take two? Why not all of them?"

"Please Bilbo."

 _Oh no_ , she moaned, _not the puppy-dog eyes!_ They were much too old for the puppy-dog eyes to work and yet…

"Fine!" She huffed and started stomping around the area once more. Her second time around she saw something that made her heart stop for a moment.

"Well, uh," She squeaked as she stared at the recently torn from the soil trees that were on the ground, their roots hanging limply in the air, "looks, like some-something big uprooted these trees."

"That's was our thinking." Kili agreed quickly.

 _Oh please, if you had seen this before, you would have mention it_ , Bilbo thought shooting the younger dwarf a dry look that caused him to blush and look sheepishly down at his feet. _That's what I thought._

Bilbo looked away from the young prince to stare back at the trees; her heart beat once more racing.

 _Just a storm; just a very big storm._

"Very big," Her voice had dropped to a panicked whisper, "and possibly quite dangerous."

"Hey!" Fili called from just a little ahead of them, motioning for them to come to where he was, "There's a light over there. Come here and stay down."

As Bilbo moved to join the golden prince, she too could see the light of a fire but what was worse, was that she could also now hear the sounds of harsh laughing. The awful laughter caused the hairs on the back of her neck and arms to rise up and her whole body started to tremble.

"What is it?" She whispered to the two boys even though she was certain she had a fairly good idea.

"Trolls."

Oh, of course… sometimes she truly hated being right. Wait… what were…

She bit back a yelp as suddenly the two boys were running off in the direction of the fire, leaving her and their empty soup bowls behind.

"Wait, you two…" She trailed off as she dived behind a tree as a massive creature stomped through the undergrowth, carrying a pony under each arm, both of whom were whinnying in distress.

 _No, not Myrtle!_

Once the Troll was safely by the fireside, Bilbo shot forward to where the two boys were hiding, panting.

"He's got Myrtle and Minty! I think they're going to eat them!" It was taking all her self-control to keep her voice from rising into a hysterical squeak, "we have to do something!"

"Yes," both boys nodded in agreement with her, "you should." _Wait, what?_

Seeing her horrified look, Kili continued with a reassuring smile.

"Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small."

"N-n-no…"

"They'll never see you."

"N-n-noo… terr-terrible idea!"

"It'll be perfectly safe." Kili caught her shoulders and turned her in the direction of the Troll's campfire. "We'll be right behind you."

"And," Fili continued, giving her an encouraging pat on the back, "if you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl."

"What!"

Neither boy answered her and instead simply gave her a shove towards the fire.

"No!" She protested, all the while trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible despite her distress over how the whole situation had been torn completely out of her control, "this isn't going to work, I don't-I don't know how to hoot like any kind of owl! What's the…" she turned back around to face the boys only to find they were completely out of sight, "difference between a barn owl and a brown owl?" she finished off lamely to the darkness.

She turned back around, in the direction for the fire… and the pony snatching troll and swallowed.

"And this how I'm going to die." She whispered as she started crouch crawling towards the fire. "Not incinerated by a dragon, but because I love my pony so much that I'm willing to risk my life for her by trying to steal her back from a Troll… by myself. Terrible plan, terrible!"

 _What plan?_ Her Baggins side sobbed, _you have no plan!_

"And that's why I'm going to die."

She could hear the Trolls – and it was Trolls, plural, for there were three of them – arguing amongst themselves around the fire. One seemed to be cooking something revolting in a cauldron over the fire while the other two were sitting by the fireside, drinking and griping over mutton.

Bilbo was almost sick with terror as she listened to one of them talking about eating the farmer and his family, that he was still picky bits of them out of his teeth.

She pressed a hand over her mouth to try and keep down the bile that was rising in her throat.

 _Go back_ ; both her Baggins and Took side were in agreement for once. _Go back and get the others. You can't steal from three trolls in a nasty mood! They'll catch you and eat you!_

She started to turn back, to crawl back the way she had come only to stop because maybe, just maybe this could be her chance, her chance to prove herself to Thorin and the company. To prove that she could be a first-class, legendary burglar by stealing the stolen ponies right from under the noses of these stupid creatures.

And once she had done that and safely got them back to the company, then the company could decide what to do about the Trolls. And she would finally be accepted!

 _No!_ Her Baggins and Took sides both wailed in unison but Bilbo had made up her mind; she was going to do this.

She was going to save the ponies, steal them right out from under the Trolls' noses and finally gain the respect and friendship she so desperately wanted to have from the company. _And maybe Thorin will stop looking at me as if I am nothing more than a disappointment_ …

She rose slowly and silently from her crouch as she began creeping towards the makeshift pen the ponies were being kept in, trying her best to keep her breathing even and calm as she went. The trolls were too preoccupied with their squabbles to notice as she crept around them to the pen.

"Shush, shush." Bilbo whispered, no pleaded, with the ponies as they started making excited whinnies sounds at the sight of her, "hush, hush now. You need to be quiet and still, or they will hear you and I will be seen and then we'll all be dead. So my lovelies hush now." She didn't know, in fact she was certain that they couldn't understand her and yet, all four ponies fell dutifully quiet and simply stared at her with big trusting brown eyes.

Even though the pen was crudely made, the knots of the ropes holding it together were tough and thick and Bilbo's tiny hands did not possess the strength necessary to undo them.

 _Go get Thorin_! Her Baggins side pleaded as she was forced to duck behind a tree when one of the trolls, the smallest of the three trolls got up and peered at the ponies.

"I hope you're gonna gut these nags," the small troll whined, "I don't like the stinky parts."

Bilbo peered back around her tree when she heard the smaller troll squeal out in pain as the one of the bigger ones, the cook, smacked him over the head with his ladle.

"I said sit down!" The troll who was the cook barked at the smallest who was still crying out in pain.

"I'm starving!" the biggest and ugliest of three bellowed, "Are we 'aving horse tonight or what?"

"Shut your cakehole. You'll eat what I give ya."

 _I hope you poison them_ , Bilbo thought as she continued to peer around her tree. She couldn't undo the ropes by herself, not by hand but… she watched in disgust as the littlest troll pulled his soiled handkerchief from when he tucked it at the back of his – well, let's just call them pants here for Bilbo didn't know what else to call them and truly didn't wish to dwell any longer on the subject than she had too – pants to blow his nose once again and now hanging visibly from his belt was a long, sharp knife. It was a wicked, cruel looking thing, meant for cutting flesh from bone, but Bilbo was certain that it would do the job.

Only…

"No, come on Bilbo" she whispered as her terror started to rise again, "come on, do the brave thing and bravery will surely follow… hopefully."

Heart in mouth, she crept for the knife, skirting as far away from the cook as possible and trying to stay well out of sight of big, ugly one.

She had to move quickly because she could just tell the big ugly troll was spoiling for a fight, with the smallest one coping the first blow from the big ones fist after he was caught trying to take a swig out of the biggest one drink.

Her fingers were just closing around the handle of the blade – the small troll had finally, finally stopped squirming all over his seat – when she felt her plan go terribly, terribly wrong.

Literally felt, as something huge and strong wrapped around her body, lifting her up and around the troll's massive form – even being so much smaller than the other two, the little one was still mammoth in size compared to Bilbo – and for a horrific moment Bilbo was certain she was going to be eaten, alive and whole. She didn't even have time to scream.

Except what actually happened was almost just as bad as being eaten alive. And that was being used as handkerchief and being covered head to toe in troll boogies.

She gagged and spluttered, wiggling futilely in the smallest trolls grasp.

"Argh!" She heard the smallest Troll squeal, "Blimey! Bert! Bert! Look what's come out of me 'ooter! It's got arms and legs and everything."

 _Oh no…_

Blinking and wiping away troll boogies from her eyes she saw that she now had the three trolls peering down at her.

"What is it?" The biggest troll questions, poking a finger at her. Bilbo rolled to the side quickly so as not to be jabbed by it.

"I don't know," Yelped the smallest, "but I don't like the way it wiggles around." She was dumped unceremoniously to the ground by the campfire, the wind knocked out of her completely.

"What are you then?" The biggest troll asked, moving to jab her with his finger once again, "an oversized squirrel?"

"I'm, ah, I'm a bur- a hobbit." Bilbo stuttered as she shook violently from head to toe wishing she had managed to catch those two bloody boys before they had up and disappeared on her so that they could have taught her how to hoot like an owl, any kind of owl. If she was going to die because she didn't know how to hoot like an owl to be rescued, she would be most put out.

"A burrahobbit?" the trolls looked down at her with expressions she could only described as baffled, so she took it as a safe guess that they had never seen a hobbit before…

 _Well, they have now_! Her Took side pointed out peevishly, _well done!_

"What's a burrahobbit got to do with my pocket, anyways?" Asked the smallest troll peering down at her as suspiciously as she thought a troll could possibly look.

 _You have pockets in whatever it is your wearing?_ Bilbo was able to curb her tongue before she blurted that out.

"And can yer cook 'em?" Asked the big one.

Bilbo gulped as she looked frantically around her for an escape route.

"Yer can try," the cook replied, as he picked up a skewer.

 _Don't scream, think, run!_

She tried to run, and she was able to dodge the big one and small one, with those two crashing into each other with a great thud and a lot of cursing only to be cornered by the cook.

"It wouldn't make more than a mouthful, not when it's just skinned and boned!" The cook grumbled looking down at her as she swayed faintly on her feet.

She was really going to die! Die horrifically and then eaten.

"P'raps tere are more like him around about, and we might make a pie."

 _No…_

Bilbo broke into a run once again, dodging grasping hands and stomping feet. But even so her progress on actually escaping was almost none existent for every time she managed to evade two and caused for them to either hit or crash into each other, the third was always in front of her, blocking her escape.

She let out a terrified scream when she was snatched by her legs and swung so that she was being held upside down in front of the face of the big, ugly one.

"Gotch, you little rodent!" the big ugly one crowed as he poked his finger against her belly, "now, here you, are there any more of your sort a-sneakin' in these here woods, yer nasty little rabbit." He gave Bilbo a firm shake that quite rattled her brain around her head.

"Yes, lot- _No_ pe!" Just in time Bilbo was able to catch herself, remembering that no matter what, she could not give the company away. There might be a chance that the boys hadn't yet told them about the trolls and well, the last thing she wanted to do was to send three hungry trolls their way when they had no idea of their existence. Let her die without betraying her friends' existence to these vile creatures. "No none at all, not one."

"What d'yer mean?" the big one growled giving her another frightful shake that brought tears to her eyes.

"Exactly what I said," Bilbo gasped through her tears and her growing dizziness from being held upside down for so long, "there are no others' such as me in these woods," Which was the truth, there were no other hobbits in theses woods other than her, so really, she wasn't lying.

"Please," She continued to gasp, "please don't cook me, for as the good sir over there," she gestured wildly in the direction of the cook, "pointed out, I would be nothing more than a mouthful once you skinned and boned me, but I am quite a good cook. I can cook better than I'd cook, if you understand my meaning," she was babbling but with her head spinning as it was she found she couldn't stop talking, "I'll cook a beautiful breakfast for you, if only you won't cook me for supper." She was crying in earnest now. A truly odd experience it was too, crying while being held upside down, her tears didn't seem to know quite where to fall.

She rubbed her eyes with her hand trying desperately to lean her body forward so that her head a least could be in a slightly upright position. It hurt…

"Poor little blighter." She heard the smallest troll say as her body fell limply back down again. She wasn't sure if he actually felt sorry for her or if the alcohol he had been consuming was affecting his brain. "Poor little blighter. Let 'im go!"

"Not till it says what it means by 'lot' and 'not at all'," the big one holding her growled. "I don't want to have me throat cut in my sleep!"

"Hold it toes over the fire." The cook suggested, "Make it squeal!"

"No!" the smallest one yelled, "I won't have it! I caught it anyways, I should 'ave a say in what's done with it!"

"Yer a fool William." The big troll roared back and gave Bilbo another vicious shake. Her stomach heaved in an awful fashion and while she was thankfully she hadn't had her dinner before this awful misadventure, she could feel her lunch rising – or was it falling with her being held upside down? – in her stomach.

"And yer a lout!" the smaller troll shrieked back.

 _If only they would drop me and fight and then I could sneak away_ , Bilbo thought in a nauseous daze. It seemed that she was only moments away from having her wish coming true, when…

"Drop her!"

 _Oh Kili, your timing is awful!_ Bilbo groaned, forcing herself to swallow back her lunch. And where was the others? He hadn't come alone, had he? Stupid boy! If neither of them died from this she was going to kick that boy and his brother right in the shins.

"I said, drop her!" Kili yelled again his eyes glowing and he looked to Bilbo's blurry vision absolutely delighted about something. The prospect of fighting trolls?… or saving her?…

Probably fighting. She wasn't the only one trying to prove her worth to Thorin on this damn adventure. Oh by the Valar was that dwarf even worth it?

She was thinking this just as she was being dropped to the ground, the wind once more being knocked clean out of her and her ears ringing for a good moment or two before she was able to once more hear properly. When her hearing returned, it wasn't much of an improvement though from the ringing, for all she could hear now was a good bit of yelling and the sound of metal hitting solid hide. When she had the strength to roll her head just a little she could see that it wasn't just Kili attacking the trolls but everyone else in the company too.

 _They're weapons are useless against the trolls skin though_ , she thought as she rose slowly up onto all fours and tried to get her head to stop spinning.

When she was almost trod on by a troll – she couldn't tell which one – she decided it was well and truly time to move. She couldn't walk just yet – her poor feet had been quite squashed in the great paw of the biggest troll – but she could crawl, and crawl she did, making sure to stay well away from the battle, she pointed herself in the direction of the pen the ponies were still trapped in, there poor frighten whinnies almost lost in the noise of the fight.

She was able to pick up the knife, the very one that had started the whole mess of her being caught, dragging it with as she crawled the last few feet to the pen.

There she used the wicked knife as a kind of saw and made quick work of the ropes, with the ponies finishing the job off as the weaken structure of pen could not withstand their frantic pushing against it in their desperate attempt to escape.

Bilbo breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the ponies run off to freedom, because even if she had managed to get herself caught by Trolls and almost eaten, she had at least saved the ponies.

She was just thinking of hiding herself, because honestly, what use would she be in the fight with the trolls when once again she was being scoped up and off the ground by huge fingers.

 _At least I'm not upside down this time,_ she thought hysterically only for her choke down her hysteria when she arms and legs were grabbed by two trolls and she was held aloof in front of the dwarves.

 _No,_ she sighed in resignation as she stared down at the dwarves, most of whom were staring back at her exasperation with many a handful looking at her with actual fear in their eyes. Thorin looked like he wanted to kill her himself, _this is much, much worse._

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off!" the big ugly troll growl and Bilbo got the full brunt of Thorin's scowl to which she almost tempted to just to tell him to sod off you utter arse! She didn't ask to be rescued by him anyway!

So imagine her surprise, how startled she was when Thorin did as the troll asked. She had been certain that he would be quite comfortable to leave her to her fate, that her death would not be something he would lose any sleep over, but there he was laying down his arms as the trolls requested, never taking his eyes off of her for a moment, while the other dwarves grudgingly followed his example.

They swore and yelled as they were rounded up but Thorin remained silent. And he didn't take his eyes off her until she was thrown in a sack like the rest of them.

 **HiBtWH**

Bilbo had been certain she would be the first one to be cooked by the trolls, given how much trouble she had caused them and also being the first of the company that they had caught. But apparently, despite the trouble she had caused, William as she had learnt was the smallest troll's name was quite… fond of her?

The other two, known as Bert, the cook, and Tom, the big ugly one, had been ready and willing to cook her up and eat her but after another near fight with William, they decided to leave her be for the time being and instead decided to cook themselves up some nice roast dwarf instead.

So instead, she was forced to watch in horror as Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Dori, Nori and Ori were tied onto a pit and set to roast over a fire, while she laid with the rest of the company, all tied up in sakes, though her own was just a little too big for her.

"Don't bother cooking them." William was complaining as he paced around the spit while Tom and Bert turned it evenly around. "Let's just sit on them one by one and squash them into jelly."

Bert the cook disagreed with suggestion whole-heartedly.

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage."

She could hear yells and cries of anger and no small measure of fear from the spit and from the sacks she was stacked with.

"Ooh," William agreed after a moment, "that does sound quite nice."

"Never mind the seasoning," Tom snarled sounding impatient, "we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, so let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone."

Bilbo's head snapped in the direction of the trolls.

Turned to stone… by sun light? Was that… was that truly a thing that happened to them? She remembered old fae tales saying such thing, but… those had just being fae tales, right? Silly things that were meant to teach a child basic life lesson and morals, the rules of right and wrong, they didn't have any real truth behind the monsters in them, did they?

Well, if they did or if they didn't, Bilbo still had to try and this was either going to work or she was going to die a lot sooner than planned.

Still actioning her plan was a lot harder to execute than she originally thought, what with her poor feet still hurting something terrible and her being trapped in an oversized sack and all, but after a good deal of wiggling and squirming, she found herself swaying on her feet, the sack hanging loosely around her shoulders. And if she wriggled just a little more, she would be free of it and with the trolls being so distracted with the dwarves, she could escape without being seen.

She felt a burning sensation against the side of her head and when she happened to look back at the dwarves still trapped in sacks, she immediately met Thorin's hot blue gaze, as if he had known what she had been thinking.

 _Oh please_ , she glared back at him, just as hotly. He might be an arse but she wasn't about to leave him and the rest of the dwarves to be eaten by trolls. She was actually quite fond of a few of them and well, Thorin had laid down his weapons for her, so that she might have a few more hours of life, the least she could do was try and return the favour.

"Wait."

But even though her head might have made up the decision to try and buy the dwarves more time, it didn't mean the rest of her body had received the message and so her voice came out as nothing more than a high pitch squeak that no one but maybe Thorin, who was still watching her intently, heard.

"WAIT!" She tried again and this time her voice came out as more of a shriek that had trolls and dwarves alike all looking at her, "You-you are making a terrible mistake."

"You can't reason with them," Dori cried back at her from where he spun on the spit, "they're half-wits!"

"Half-wits?" She heard Bofur yell back, "What does that make us?"

 _Does he regret trying to save… not now Bilbo_ , but the doubt had seeded itself inside her head and all her fear and anxiety came crashing down on her again, almost completely derailing her plan.

"Uh, I," She squished her eyes shut and forced herself to breath, to think, "I mean with the, uh, with, uh, with the seasoning."

She didn't dare look at Thorin or any of the dwarves for that matter as Bert learn in close to peer into her face.

"What about the seasoning?"

"Well," she took another deep breath, "have-have you smelt them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up."

She could hear the dwarves yelling at her, insults in both common and their own tongue, words like traitor and oath-breaker were the loudest to be heard and thrown around. She was surprised by just how much the words hurt.

 _I'm trying to save you, you insufferable…_

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" Tom shouted at her over the commotion, sounding sceptical as he eyed her suspiciously. He of the three was the one who most wanted her dead and probably in his belly.

"Shut up," Bert yelled back at him, his attention not leaving Bilbo's face, "and let the, uh, flurgaburburrahobbit talk."

"Uh, th-the," oh, why hadn't she thought this far ahead? "th-the secret to cooking dwarf is, um…"

"Yes? Come on."

"It's, uh…"

"Tell us the secret." Bert was growing impatient and Bilbo knew if she didn't say something soon, she would have lost all chance of buying time for the dwarves.

"Ye-yes, I'm," She bounced irritably up and down in her sack, "I'm telling you, the secret is…" um, what had the trolls been planning to do with her, was it, was it, oh, that's right… "to skin them first!"

 _Oh…_

"Tom," Bert was making come motion with his hand towards Tom, "get me the filtering knife."

"If I get you, you little…"

"I won't forget that!"

"What a load of rubbish!" Tom shouted, "I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them, I say, boots and all."

 _Oh, oh no…_

And oh… she blinked, for was that… dawn she could see from the behind the rocks in from of them and… and GANDALF?

"'e's right!" William agreed charging forward towards the pile of dwarves tied in sacks, "Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf! Nice and crunchy."

William snatched up a wailing Bombur, lifting him and dangling upside down over his mouth, ready to eat him whole.

"NO!" Bilbo shrieked, and again every troll and dwarf's attention was snapped back in her direction, "No, not-not that one, he, um, he's… infected! He's _infected_!

"You what?" She heard Tom choke, while William looked in horror at Bombur still dangling above his head.

"Uh huh," Bilbo nodded her head vigorously. "Yep, he's got worms in his, ah, um… tubes!"

She winced in sympathy as Bombur was promptly dropped by William back onto the pile of dwarves.

"In-in fact," she continued, having to yell now to make herself heard over William's cries of disgust, "they all are. They're all in-infested with parasites. It's a-it's a terrible business, tha-that's why we're out here in the Wilds of the World you see, to find a cure. But," she shrugged her shoulders, "no such luck, I'm afraid. I honestly wouldn't risk it; I really wouldn't, not with how contagious it's been. But, you know, it is your life after all…"

"Parasites, did she say parasites?" She could hear Oin and Kili yelling from the pile nearby.

"We don't have parasites! You have parasites." And of course within moments, all the dwarves were yelling protests against her story, none of them seeming to realise what she was trying to do.

Oh! Why did they have to make everything so hard! Honestly, why was she even bothering?

She shot all of them a shared exasperated look, which was utterly missed by the dwarves tied to the spit or was either ignored or also missed by the dwarves in sacks. It was only when she met Thorin's eyes yet again – he was the only dwarf not yelling, maybe saving his strength or simply hadn't seen a point.

 _Come on_ , she willed him with her eyes, _just this once, work with me, please_.

He chin moved ever so slightly downwards, as if nodding that he understood before he was kicking the others. The dwarves in the sack fell silent for a moment, stretching to look awkwardly between their king and their burglar, seeming to finally understand what she was trying to do.

She stood there, desperately wanting to press her face into her hands as she listened to the most extraordinarily over the top declarations she had ever heard in her life. It almost sounded as if they wanted to have parasites. But bless them; they were trying now instead of hindering her attempts to save them.

"What would you have us do, then," Tom growled at her, "let 'em all go?"

"Well…."

Tom stormed towards her, his jabbing finger was more poking against her chest, almost knocking her off her aching feet.

"You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret," Tom roared back to William and Bert, "is taking us for fools!"

"Ferret?" Bilbo said, not sure whether to be insulted or not. She had met some perfectly nice ferrets – those kept as pets that is and were not fed on a diet of bread and milk that upset their little tummies so terribly – at several Took relatives homes and though she knew the little long creatures could be vicious the ones she had met had been lovely, if a little sneaky in nature of stealing one's handkerchiefs and stashing them away.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of Gandalf voice, from where he appeared atop of a very large rock above the clearing that they all stood in.

"The dawn will take you all!"

"Who's that?" Bert queried

"No idea." Tom replied sounding utterly fed up with the night, which lucky for the dwarves and Bilbo herself, was over.

"Can we eat 'im too?" William asked eagerly.

Bilbo snorted over what all three trolls were failing to notice and that the sun light shining from behind Gandalf. Though her snort was quick to turn into gasp of amazement when, with his staff, Gandalf strike the rock he was standing upon, splitting it clean in half, allowing for dawn's light to pour into the clearing.

The trolls howled loudly as the light touched their skin, which cracked and harden as the trolls twisted and turned where they stood, trying and failing to escape. Within seconds, instead of three terrifying trolls bearing down upon them, there stood instead three terrifying stone statues.

The clearing erupted with the sounds of the dwarves cheering, while Bilbo flopped backwards into an exhausted heap. She, however, only stayed there for a moment before she was rolling and squirming herself free of her sake and trotting painfully over to where the dwarves tied in sacks were still piled up.

She immediately went to Thorin first because well, he was the leader and the dwarven king and she suppose that gave him the entitlement of being first during times such as these. He didn't say anything to her as she undid the knots at the top of the sack and she refused to say anything if he wasn't.

When he was free, she darted over to dear Balin, who had been one of the few dwarves during this whole mess not cursing her name. He hadn't understood her plan to try and buy them time, but she was too tired and sore to care about that just now.

They were safe; no one was eaten whole or roasted or sat on to be squashed into jelly, they were safe and that was the main thing.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for reading. Comments are appreciated. Next chapter will be up probably this time next weekend.

Cheers


	7. A Troll-Hoard

**Author's Note:** Hi everyone. Yes, I know I said I would be posting this chapter next weekend, but it's done, finished, ready to post, so why wait til then?  
Also, I'm more or less done with the Rivendell Arc of this story and I kinda want to jump into posting that ASAP and since this chapter is really just a filler/bridge chapter between Roast Mutton and the Riverndell chapters, I thought why not just post it now, get it out of the way, instead of making you all wait two weeks for the Rivendell stuff. I don't know, I'm on a roll at the moment and I guess I'm trying to keep the momentum up by posting as much as I can while I feel in the mood, and since this was more or less ready to go, why not.

So this chapter has a bit of movie stuff in it, but mostly this chapter is trying to build a bit more on Bilbo's growing relationships with the company and I guess further developing her position as the Hobbit and Burglar in the group. She isn't accepted yet (and there is a reason - there is, I swear - for that which will be explored either in the One-Shot I have written for The Most Precious of Treasures, which I really need to post OR I will be trying to address in a Thorin or maybe with another of the dwarves POV's somewhere in this fic) but stuff is starting to develop, an understanding is starting to form between her and a lot of the Dwarves... Thorin's still a majestic arse, though, but-but not for too much longer, he will be softening soon and then, then the fun begins and I'm-I'm so excited for that because Bilbo is so sassy, such a sassy character and she's just going to be sassing Thorin all the time in chapters to come. And the other dwarves too, but yeah, Thorin is going to get the brunt of her sass. And he doesn't know what to do and it's glorious! I just love writing those scenes and... but we'll get to those, we'll get to those.

Now, it is time for me to shut up and let you lovely people read this chapter. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 **A Troll-Hoard**

Bilbo sat off to the side of the troll's camp, simply looking up at the now stone trolls, wishing she had her sketchbook with her, so that she might do a quick sketch of the three trolls. But as it was, her sketchbook was in her pack back at the dwarf's camp. Ori had promised, as he and his brothers' made to head back to their camp to collect the company's belonging, not to leave her pack or walking stick behind.

She had been so grateful to the young dwarf, given how all the other dwarves seemed to be going out of their way to avoid her from the moment they had been freed from either being tied up in a sack or on the spit.

They blamed her for what had happened, and honestly, Bilbo couldn't fault them for doing so. She rubbed the side of her head wearily before her hand dropped down to curl around her mother's ring, only…

Bilbo jumped to her feet in a panic, completely ignoring the protests they made to having her full weight upon them.

 _Oh no, oh no, oh no_ … her hand searched her neck underneath her collar frantically, trying to find the familiar cord that her mother's ring hung from.

"It's gone!" she whispered, the pain in her chest intensifying. "It must have…" fallen off when she was being held upside down by Tom.

 _Alright Bilbo, don't panic, mustn't panic, it must be around here somewhere._

"Eh, what's the matter?" Bofur asked coming to stand by her side as she stared down at the turned up soil of the troll's camp, blinking back tears.

"My uh, my mother's ring." She whispered through pale lips.

"Eh, what about it?"

"I-I've lost it. When I was being held upside down, it must have fallen off." She pressed a hand over her mouth, trying to stay calm but not even knowing where to start looking for the ring, not with how disturbed the clearing undergrowth was from the fight between the trolls and dwarves. Her mother's ring could be buried for all she knew.

"Come on lassie, I'll help ya look." Bofur gave her a reassuring squeeze of her arm before yelling to Bombur and Bifur to get over here and give us a hand.

 _It's useless_ , Bilbo thought miserably, as she gently shifted soil with her toes. She was never going to find it, never, ever, ever…

"Halfling." She was almost tempted to just ignore Thorin completely, not at all willing to face his wrath, but when Bofur nudged her side, she forced herself to look up from her feet to stare at the Dwarven king. Or rather at what he held in his hand, the sunlight softly glinting off of a familiar gold band.

"You found it!" Bilbo squeaked, limping forward eagerly before stopping herself short so as to not make a utile fool of herself.

 _A little late for that_ , she thought with a sigh when she saw how he raised his eyebrows at her.

"Thank you." She said reaching out for the cord her mother's ring hung from and he dropped it into the palm of her hand.

Breathing far more easily now, she pulled the cord over her head and tucked the ring underneath her shirt, safe and sound again.

"What were you thinking?" Thorin growled, and Bilbo's head snapped back up to stare at him, dread filling her gut. _Here_ was Thorin's wrath. "Going up against three trolls on your own? Are you mad? Were you trying to get yourself killed?"

"N-no," She bit back, "I was trying…" deep breathe in, to try and calm her wrecked nerves, "to save the ponies."

"The why didn't you come and get us? Once you knew that they were missing, why didn't you report it to us?"

 _Because your nephews asked me not to_ , she wanted to shout back at him but she could see the two boys watching the exchange with anxious expressions and she, she just couldn't.

"Because I thought I could take them," She tried to sound strong but even to own ears she sounded weak, "I thought I could steal the ponies back and that the trolls would be none the wiser."

"You thought wrong," Thorin snapped, and Bilbo winced, biting back a new onslaught of tears. Thorin seemed to have decided that he had said his piece and stormed off out of the trolls' camp, followed closely by several dwarves.

Bilbo sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, feeling universally small and stupid.

"Aw, lass," Bofur threw an around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest, "don't you go crying over 'im. He's just bein' a right arse."

Despite herself, Bilbo gave a watery giggle.

"Isn't it treason to insult your king?" Bilbo asked wiping her eyes.

"Eh, if he can't take a few name calling then I don't want 'im as me bloody king. 'sides, he's been called worse." Bofur squeezed her shoulders fondly.

They stood there for a moment or two in comfortable silence, Bilbo simply enjoying the comfort Bofur was freely offering her.

"He was worried 'bout you though." Bofur continued unexpectedly, "When tha lads' finally came running for us when you took too long getting the ponies back."

"Probably because he didn't want to deal with the hassle of having to go back to the Shire to try and find another burglar." Bilbo snorted shaking her head. She saw the two lads standing awkwardly nearby, looking shamefaced.

"Hello you two, what's the matter?" Bilbo asked and the two boys shuffled unhappily forward.

"We're sorry." They said in unison, staring down at their feet, their hands clenched at their sides.

"Its fine," Bilbo replied taken slightly aback at their unexpected apology. Or maybe it wasn't so unexpected; Kili after all, had been the first dwarf to apologize to her, right back at the beginning when she had yelled at him wiping his muddy boots all over her mother's glory box.

"It isn't though." Fili grumbled, his face twisted into an expression of angsts, "the whole mess was our fault! We should have listened to you and done as you said. We should have gone and gotten Thorin the moment we saw the troll…" the boy stopped and shook his head, "the moment we knew the ponies were missing, but we didn't and…" the boy trailed off, looking angry and frustrated with himself.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it?" Bilbo smiled at the two boys, her cheeks burning, "Thank you though, for apologizing, I-I truly appreciate it. Maybe next time you get me to do something dangerous you can first teach me how to hoot like different types of owls." She said the last part lightly and while she was able to pull a smile from Kili, Fili still looked dejected.

"I should tell Uncle that it was us, that we made you…" Fili started looking in the direction Thorin had stalked off to.

"No, don't." Bilbo shook her head, "there's no point." The golden boy opened his mouth to protest but Bilbo waved him away, "truly, leave it. Thorin has said his piece on the matter; let's just leave it at that."

"But…" Bilbo waved Fili off again.

"She's right laddie." Bofur chimed in, "best just to leave the matter 'lone now."

Fili sighed heavily but nodded and then to Bilbo's great surprise both boys bowed to her before leaving without another word.

"Wha…" Bilbo looked wildly at Bofur who looked only amused.

"N'uthing to worry about, just that they recognised a debt owed."

"WH-what? Oh no, th-they don't owe me anything. _Bofur_!" for the miner was strolling away from her laughing

 **HiBtWH**

Bilbo's aching feet forced her to sit down outside the large cave that was said to be where the trolls lived during the daylight hours. Given the stench coming from within, Bilbo found it easy enough to believe. She was more than happy to remain outside while Gandalf, Thorin, Dwalin, Gloin, Bofur and Nori went inside to investigate.

"You alright lass?" Oin rumbled at her from where he had come to stand near to her.

Bilbo, who had been massaging one of her squashed feet, dropped it immediately to look at him sheepishly.

"Um, no, it's fine. I'm fine. I just… my feet got a little squashed during my misadventure with the trolls." She admitted in embarrassment. She watched as strange look crossed over Oin's face before he was suddenly marching over to her, looking annoyed.

"You were hurt and didn't say?" the old dwarf grumbled, as he knelt down in front of her, his bag of medical supplies placed carefully beside him.

"No, I mean – I… wait!" Her right foot was pulled into a firm, weather beaten hands and Bilbo squirmed furiously against the sensation, fighting back the desire to kick Oin right in his nose.

How…How… How could he! Without even asking! And they gave her a hard time for asking only the most basic of questions about their culture!

"You alright lass?" Oin asked again as Bilbo's face twisted with discomfort, "hurting you am I?" he fingers upon her foot became gentler in their grip but it didn't nothing to ease Bilbo's distress.

"You don't…" She struggle not to snap, to yell at these thick headed, arrogant sods who thought themselves better than her in every way, who cared so much for their own damn culture but did not appear to give a wit about anyone else's. "You don't just grab hobbits _FEET_!"

Her foot was dropped unceremoniously to the ground and Oin was sitting back on his heels watching her with a waiting expression. The dwarves that had been moving about in front of the Troll's cave had paused in their movement to stare at her, as did Gandalf and the dwarves exiting the cave.

Bilbo's face burned at the sudden, unwanted attention but she refused to apologize.

"You coulda said something." Called Gloin, moving forward from the cave to come to the defence of his older brother.

"Oh," Bilbo snapped back furiously, "because you dwarves are so forthcoming about anything regarding your race and culture. You just expect people to know what they can and can't ask, and if they do ask something you can't or won't talk about, you simply close up and give them the cold shoulder!" She was ranting now, but she couldn't stop, she was just so angry and frustrated.

"And" She continued hotly, "never! Never, ever have any of you shown even the slightest interest in anything to do with Hobbits! If you had just _asked_ , I would have happily told you that it is highly, _HIGHLY_ inappropriate, outside of family members and close friends, to touch a Hobbit's feet or their ears! Not without asking _first_!" She was shaking as she finished, her whole body trembling in release of all the pent up frustration and hurt from weeks of being given the cold shoulder for reasons she didn't understand. And she didn't understand because they wouldn't explain!

All she wanted was to learn and they just kept shooting her down without explaining why. She wasn't asking for a list detailing what she could and could not ask – though she was quite fond of lists herself, it kept one's thoughts wonderfully organised – but just an outline so she could stop falling face first into taboo subjects.

"The lassie does have a spine," Nori sniggered from somewhere nearby while Bilbo's face burned.

"She has a temper, if nothing else," Dwalin commented from where he stood by Thorin. Bilbo's eyes looked anywhere else but at the Dwarven King, who must to be absolutely stewing.

 _If he yells at me_ , she thought furiously, _I'm gonna yell back! I might not even stutter!_

And she hadn't, all the while she was yelling at the dwarves jus then, she hadn't stuttered, not even once. Nor had she fallen in her usual habit of growing politer the angrier she became.

 _I've been away from Papa for too long_ , she thought wincing, feeling a new wave of homesickness wash over her.

"May I examine your feet Lass?" Bilbo was pulled from her melancholy by Oin's question, causing her to blink rapidly back at him several times.

"Huh?"

"May I examine your feet? They're causing you pain, aye? I might have something to help, but I need to see if anything is broken first."

"Oh, um," Her right leg jiggled painfully as she struggled with her indecision. She knew her feet weren't broke – Hobbit feet were considered to be the toughest part of a hobbit's body, aside from their heads, and it was rare that a hobbit suffered any kind of injury to their feet – but they did hurt something dreadful.

"Alright," Bilbo said slowly extending her right foot back to him, biting down upon her bottom lip as Oin continued on with his ministration of her foot. He seemed to quite intrigue by her feet.

"Hobbits truly never wear shoes?" He asked as he carefully turned her ankle this way and that.

"No, never" Bilbo said as she leant back on her elbows, staring up at the sky through the tree foliage, "well, that's-that's not quite true," She paused for a moment twisting her head to look at Oin and a few other dwarves who were standing nearby watching her. Bofur motioned for her to continue, "There was a race of Hobbits, known as the Stoors, who wore boots… if one is to believe the stories. They were said to be a riverside people and wore boots to protect their feet from the muddy riverbanks."

"Didn't know there were different races of Hobbit." Ori commented from nearby, his head tilted to one side, his dark eyes bright and curious. He loved to learn just as much as Bilbo did.

 _You had only to ask_ , Bilbo thought, but brushed the words away. She had said her piece, now it was time to let her anger go.

"There were three originally." Bilbo answered, her head tilted back to feel the warmth of the sun upon her cheeks, her eyes closed as she recited, "Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides. But once the three races migrated and settled in the Shire, we became mixed and now most hobbits are a bit of each race. Though the hobbits of Buckland pull more strongly from the Stoor roots, for their love of boat craft, fishing and swimming," She wrinkled her nose at the mere thought of being in any body of water that wasn't her bath tub.

"Your feet aren't broken." Oin said finally, letting go of Bilbo's ankle for a moment as he dug into his medical satchel, "Anyone else, hmm yes. But you Hobbits have tough feet." He seemed to find what he was looking for in his bag and pulled out a small jar of ointment, unscrewing and taking a deep whiff. Bilbo only gagged.

"Tat-that's foul!"

"What, howl? No it doesn't howl and you don't have any open wounds so you won't be howling when I put this on either."

"That not… never-mind." Bilbo pinched her nose as Oin started carefully smearing the revolting ointment over her feet, being incredibly mindful of the hairs that adorn the tops of her feet; he rubbed over her toe joints, her ankles and sides of her feet. For a moment her feet seemed to be in state of confusion over whether they felt like they were burning hot or freezing cold.

She let out a small squeak as she sat upright only for the queer sensation to disappear and her feet felt only somewhat numb, the pain in them almost completely gone.

"Wow." Bilbo said, wiggling her toes in an exaggerated fashion, "I am very impressed."

"You're in distressed?"

Bilbo rolled her eyes but still smiled at Oin, making sure he was looking at her face as she said, "Thank you."

She hopped eagerly to her feet, testing her numb-ish feeling feet out by taking a few steps

"Eh, you're welcome lass. Don't keep quiet next time you're hurt." Oin groaned as he tried rising to his feet. Bilbo moved quickly to catch his arm, offering support as the older dwarf pulled himself to his feet on the uneven ground.

"Thank you." Oin said, patting her shoulder. Bilbo smiled before testing out her feet for a few moments.

"Bilbo."

She looked up and around as Gandalf approached her, holding what looked like a sword, a very small sword compared to the ones she had seen the dwarves use, but a sword nonetheless.

"Hmm? Yes Gandalf?"

"Here," Gandalf said presenting her with the tiny sword, "This is about your size."

Bilbo stared for a long moment at the sword that was being held out to her, before lifting her gaze up to stare at Gandalf, wondering if he might be teasing her.

But when Gandalf nodded encouragingly instead of laughing outright in her face, Bilbo hesitantly reached out and took the sword with slightly trembling hands.

The sword was light, but sturdy, her small hand moulding comfortably around the little blades hilt. It was nothing like the antique blades that lined the walls of Great Smials of Tookland, the ancestral home of the Tooks. The ones her grandfather, the Old Took, had let her hold – under close supervision of course – during her many visits with her mother. Those swords had been made in times of desperate need and there had been a certain roughness to them that this beautiful little blade didn't possess. It was thing of beauty, something made for an elven lord, not a hobbit of the Shire.

"I can't take this." She said running her hand gently over the sheath of the blade.

"The blade is of Elvish make which means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby."

Well… that did seem useful, but…

"I have never used a sword in my life." She didn't know why she was admitting this as whisper to Gandalf, all the while sending fugitive looks over her shoulder in the direction of the dwarves. It wasn't like they didn't know or at least suspect that she was useless with a weapon.

"And I hope you never have to." Gandalf replied in a serious tone, his eyes holding a sadness that spoke of years beyond measure of wisdom and loss. "But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one."

"But…" Bilbo said, "How will I know? How…"

"When the moment comes, you will know what to do." Gandalf replied softly, placing a gentle hand upon her shoulder, smiling at her, "you will know."

"I…"

"Something's coming!" Thorin roared suddenly causing Bilbo to almost jump out of her skin. Around her dwarves were leaping to their feet and drawing arms.

"Gandalf…"

"Stay together," Gandalf shouted, herding Bilbo to stand with the rest of the dwarves, "Hurry now! Arm yourself." He added to Bilbo who hesitated for a moment before she drew her little sword, her face reflecting in the smooth surface of the blade.

"Bilbo!"

"Ah, coming!"

She found herself quickly engulfed into the circle that the dwarves had formed, finding herself standing in the centre of it. She held her little sword out in front of her awkwardly, her head twisting in all directions,

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!"

Bilbo stared in open-mouth wonder as a sled came into view, narrowly missing a tree, being pulled along by the largest rabbits she had ever seen in all her life. They were almost as big as her!

And the man standing in the sled itself was the wildest looking creature she had ever seen.

"Radagast!" Gandalf cried, stepping forward smiling, "Radagast the Brown,"

 _Oh, wasn't he one of the wizards Gandalf told her about?_

"What on earth are you doing here?" Gandalf asked as he smiled dropped and his expression turned serious.

The brown wizard hopped off his sled eagerly, stepping towards Gandalf with a frantic air about him.

"I was looking for you, Gandalf." The brown wizard spoke with obvious distress, his whole being trembling with agitation, "Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."

"Yes?" Gandalf asked his frowning deepening.

The brown wizard drew himself to his full height, which made little difference if Bilbo was honest, his mouth opening and… nothing. The wizard closed his mouth and bit his lip, his eyes shifting about him anguish.

"Oh," Radagast cried, hopping up and down in increasing agitation, "just give me a moment. Um, oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was, it was right there, on the tip of my tongue."

Bilbo glanced slowly at Fili and Kili and several other dwarves who were trying (or not trying) to contain their laughter.

Bilbo choked back a yelp as when she watched in disbelieve as Gandalf pulled a stick insect out of Radagast mouth.

It was soon after that the two wizards went off into the forest to talk in private, while Bilbo sat back down in the undergrowth to inspect her little sword.

"Know how ta use that?" Bofur teased as he came to stand by her.

Bilbo only shot him a dry look before sheathing the blade hurriedly, hoping to possibly avoid or at least post-pone the ribbing that was surely to come regarding her possessing the pretty elven blade.

"Of course not," she retorted with a huff before sighing, "But I suppose I'd like to. It would be good if I knew how to protect myself. Save everyone a great deal of bother if I did."

"I'll teach you." Fili offered with an earnest expression.

 _Still desperate to make amends for last night_ , Bilbo realised with a small degree of surprise.

"Not on your life laddie," Dwalin snorted, "you'd go too soft on her." he turned an amused smirk onto her, a wild glint in his dark eyes that filled her with terror. "I'll teach you." He offered smirking still as she gulped. "Scared Halfling?"

"Of you?" her voice was high, "I'd be a bloody idiot if I wasn't!"

Dwalin threw back his head and let out a barking laugh.

"I'll teach you right lassie, don't you worry." He said once he had finished laughing.

"I'm worried now." She groaned, burying her face into her hands.

Her head jerked upwards however at the sudden sounds of howl from the distance, a howl that sent a shiver of fear right down her spin. All the stories she had heard as a youth about wolves attacking Hobbit-holes in the dead of winter came crashing back to her.

"What that a wolf? Are there… are there wolves out there?" Weren't wolves nocturnal though? Or maybe she thought that simply because all the stories she had been told about them attacking had occurred at night.

"Wolves?" Bofur caught her arm and dragged her to her feet that protested numbly at the sudden action. "No, that is not a wolf."

The company were drawing their weapons once more as Gandalf and Radagast came hurrying back to their sides.

"Look out!" Bilbo shriek as she spotted a huge wolf-like creature appear upon a rock crag above their heads.

The wolf creature lunged forward snarling, its powerful legs pushing it forward into the clearing that the company stood, knocking Bombur clean off his feet. Bilbo felt herself being dragged out of the way of the creature's evil black mouth before Thorin killed it with his new sword.

Another creature appeared just after the first, snarling and spitting hate as it too lunged for the company. It was momentarily slowed by Kili shooting it in the shoulder, but the final blow was landed by Dwalin.

"Warg-Scouts." Thorin snarled, as he pulled his sword free of the monster's thick hide, "Which means an Orc pack isn't far behind."

"Orc pack?" Bilbo felt a new wave of terror flood her, her heart beating wildly within her chest, her hands trembling at her side. She could vaguely hear Gandalf and Thorin argue but her fear addled brain couldn't properly discern what was being said.

 _Stop this_ , she begged her frighten body, _stop it this moment_! _You faced down trolls and you were not this terrified!_

But her body continued to tremble, the terror within only growing when Ori cried that they had no ponies for they had bolted in terror at the first warg howl.

 _This is why you tie them up!_ Bilbo thought numbly.

"Lass, lass." She was being shaken by Bofur, "C'mon Lassie. I know yer scared, but not right now, we need to run, aye?"

He touched a gentle hand to her clammy cheek and she gave him a feeble nod.

She vaguely heard Radagast and his rabbit-drawn sled take off but it was all she could to get her terror frozen body to move was to simply put her head down and run.

She kept pace with Bofur who was running alongside his brother and cousin. They were at the back of the company but Bilbo felt safer with them then she did with anyone else, even Gandalf. Maybe it was because from the very beginning they had been accepting of her, welcoming her with open arms and always making sure she didn't fall off her pony. And as they took care of her when she was learning to ride, they made sure she didn't fall behind as they ran.

Bilbo had never run so hard in her life, not even on the day of her mother's funeral, when she had run all the way to Tuckborough and into Green Hill Country without stopping once. But that run, that desperate, heartbroken flight of a grieving girl had been nothing compared to the frantic race Bilbo was participating in now.

The forest fell away to open rocky plains that left Bilbo feeling terribly exposed compared to the relative safety she had felt within the trees.

 _Just keep running!_ She thought to herself as she kept putting one foot in front of the other. She was barely able to focus on anything more than her running feet and her breathing that she almost knocked herself out as she crashed head long into Bofur when he came to an abrupt stop. She staggered backward and was only stopped from falling by Bifur catching her and setting her back on her feet.

"Whaaa." Bofur pressed a finger to his lips and pointed up at the huge rock they had stopped behind. Bilbo didn't see anything on top of it, but she could however hear the sounds of evil snarling. Bofur pressed her back against the rock as Kili pulled out his bow and arrow, and with a great leap, leapt from the shadow of the rock, and fired his arrow.

There was thud and an awful loud howl before the warg and its rider suddenly came into view as they toppled off the rock in front of them. Kili's arrow had taken out the warg, the arrow penetrating deep into the beast throat, but the orc rider was leaping upon them without hesitation.

Bilbo stared in terrified fascination as the first orc she had even seen in her life was cut down by the dwarves. The orc died noisily, it shrieks filling the air right up until its last breath.

RUN!" Gandalf yelled and Bilbo was once more being dragged along by Bofur, his hold on her arm fierce as he pulled her through the uneven hills and ragged rocks that stuck up randomly from the landscape.

"There they are!" She heard someone yell, maybe Dwalin… or it could have been Gloin. Bilbo didn't dare look anywhere other than Bofur's back.

"This way!" Gandalf called, waving a long arm, gesturing for them to follow as he veered off slightly to the left. "Quickly."

 _I'm running as fast as I can_ , Bilbo thought faintly. _I have only very short legs…_

She was able to stop herself from crashing into Bofur this time when he suddenly came to a halt along with everyone else, but only just.

Her head felt light and her legs wobbled beneath her so badly she was amazed she hadn't just fallen into a heap on the ground already.

"We're surrounded." Fili yelled and Bilbo watched as Kili shot down a Warg and its rider, killing both of them neatly. But he would long be out of arrows before even a dent was made to the pack and the monsters were upon them.

She swallowed thickly in fear and pulled out her little blade from where she had clumsily strapped its sheath to her waist, holding the sword awkwardly out in front of her. If she was going to die, then she would try and die fighting.

"Where is Gandalf?" Kili's voice rang out as he shot another arrow, the shaft lodging deep within the skull of an Orc.

 _Gandalf?_ Bilbo looked around her wildly, but sure enough the wizard was gone.

"He has abandoned us!" Dwalin roared, his two great axes in hand.

 _No…_

"Hold your ground!" Thorin bellowed as the dwarves once more came to stand in a defensive formation, Bilbo shoved well to the back.

"This way, you fools!" Bilbo's heart skipped as her head snapped backwards to look behind her to where Gandalf had suddenly appeared behind a large rock, "Quickly!"

"Come on Bilbo!" Bofur said, catching hold of her elbow and started pulling her towards the rock and Gandalf.

"But," she looked behind her at Thorin, Dwalin, Fili and Kili who had not moved from where they stood, Kili still shooting arrows at the pack.

"They can take care of t'emselves, most important is you take care of you!" Bofur retorted as he shoved her towards Gandalf who they found was standing in front of the mouth of a large crack in the rock face.

"Go on Bilbo my girl! Down you go," Gandalf said and gave her a gentle push towards the crack. The crack did not lead to a flat floor cave but rather Bilbo found herself slipping on her back down, down, down, into a narrow crevice.

She was followed in quick succession by Bofur, Bombur, Oin and Ori, narrowly missing being crushed by Bombur by rolling out of his way.

Thorin and Kili were the last to come sliding into the crevice, uncle with a firm hold upon nephew, his expression filled with fond exasperation. Bilbo guessed Kili had been less than keen on the idea of escape and that his uncle had had to forcibly drag the lad to safety.

Bilbo's head cocked to one side as she suddenly heard what sounded like horses and the cries of panicking Orcs and Wargs. She had just crept to the end of the slide, to try and see if she would be able to hear more, when an orcs body fell through the mouth of the cave.

She jumped back and into Fili as Thorin stormed forward, plucking out the arrow from the dead Orcs body and examined it.

"Elves." He spat seconds later, throwing the arrow to the ground.

 _Elves?_ Bilbo felt something warm and bright glow within her air starved chest. She shot a hopeful look towards Gandalf who simply winked at her over the heads of the dwarves who were trying to figure out if they should follow the crevice onwards to where ever it may lead.

 _To elves hopefully_. Bilbo thought with a tired grin. A tired grin that was noticed by Bofur who snorted lightly as he bumped his shoulder fondly against hers, before settling himself to walk behind her on the narrow pathway. She might not know what lay at the end of this path, but she certainly knew what she hoped to find.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So yes, we will be in Rivendell for the next chapter. Next couple of chapters really because I've done a Peter Jackson and made one very short chapter in the book into three rather large ones. It's ridiculous how much I have written for Rivendell but there you go. I might shorten them, which will mean more chapters but they won't be 15 or so pages long each. But don't worry this is still a Hobbit and Dwarf show, the elves will _not_ be taking over like they did in BOTFA. 'grumbles darkly' Peter Jackson I'm still so mad at you for how you handled BOTFA!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Tune in next weekend for the start of the Rivendell Arc.


	8. The Last Homely House

**11/03/2018 Author's Note:** Sorry, I meant to update with this chapter last weekend, but I went to my Dad's house for a surprise visit and his internet isn't the greatest. Gotta love Australia internet *rolls eyes*

So this is the beginning of the Rivendell Arc. So far this mini Arc is around 3 chapters in length, though the next chapter is super long, so I'm seeing if I can't break it down into two parts. At least that is the plan for the day.

Anyway, enough chatting from me, please enjoying this chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 **The Last Homely House**

Bilbo was last member of the company to exit the hidden pathway out to an open cliff edge that overlooked the prettiest valley Bilbo had ever seen in her whole life.

 _It's even better than how Mama described it_ , Bilbo thought as she blinked back tears of joy.

"The Valley of Imraldis." Gandalf introduced with a wide smile, his gaze upon the sunlit valley was fond and tender.

"In the Common Tongue," He continued ignoring the frustrated looks being sent his way by Thorin, "it's known by a another name."

"Rivendell." Bilbo breathed, unable to contain the joyful smile that was stretched across her face as she tried to take in as much of the beauty of the valley and the elven city sitting gracefully within the valley's warm embrace.

She didn't see the disapproving looks being sent her way, nor the defensive glare Bofur shot back from her side.

"Here lies the last Homely House east of the sea."

"This was your plan all along," Thorin was growling, stepping angrily towards Gandalf, his fury pulling Bilbo from her joy as she blinked at him in confusion. She knew he didn't like elves, but really? "To seek refuge with our enemy?"

Gandalf scowled just as angrily back at Thorin.

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself."

"You think the Elves will give our quest their blessing?" Thorin snapped, "They will try to stop us." Dwarves standing around him nodded and grumbled in agreement.

"Of course they will." Gandalf replied with an exasperated air, "but we have questions that need to be answered. And if we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact and respect and no small degree of charm."

Bilbo bit back a giggle for as she had seen for herself; these dwarves lacked all said qualities when dealing with anyone other than themselves.

"Which is why you will leave the talking to me." Gandalf finished, giving each and every one of the dwarves a firm, no argument look, a look that linger for some time upon Thorin. Thorin, in turn, looked as if he wanted to protest before obviously thinking better on it. Maybe realising that arguing with the wizard was a waste of time and energy and instead settled for a majestic scowl.

Bilbo's head twisted from side to side as she followed the company down the winding path towards Rivendell, the smile never leaving her face for a second, despite how much her feet were aching with each step she took.

For even as weary as she felt, no matter how much her feet and body ached, she felt safe and warm, like she back in Bag End, curled up in her favourite chair, with a good book.

"You can feel it, can't you?" She looked at up to see Gandalf who had come to walk at her side.

"Yes," She breathed in the warm air of dusk, her eyes closing briefly, "it feels like… well, I guess, it feels like what I've always imagined magic to feel like." She blushed as she admitted this and from around them, she could hear the snorts and sighs of disgruntlement from the dwarves.

"For that is exactly what it is – a very powerful magic," Gandalf said, ignoring to the general unhappiness of the dwarves around them, "it protects this whole valley. We are quite safe here."

That was only met by more grumbles and Bilbo found herself fighting a sigh of irritation.

Why? Why did they have to be like this? Why could they not put aside their petty issues with elves and admire the beauty of this valley, of the trees and the flowing streams? And waterfalls! So many waterfalls! And…

Why did that bridge have no railings?

Bilbo pulled up short as she stared at the bridge Gandalf was crossing.

A narrow bridge! A narrow bridge that branched over a roaring stream! A narrow bridge that branched over a roaring steam that had no railings!

"C'mon lass, you want to be here, you can be first across the bridge." Dwalin grumbled giving her a slight push to the middle of her back that forced her to stumble forward. When she looked back, she saw the dwarves were not going to budge and that it had been unanimously decided she would be the first to cross the bridge after Gandalf. The Broadbeam cousins shot her apologetic looks… well; the Broadbeam brothers' did, Bifur was trying to eat a flower he had picked up along the way. She hoped Bofur noticed and stopped him.

"Come along Bilbo." Gandalf called, "it's quite alright, it's perfectly safe."

"It has no railing!" Bilbo groaned, squeezing her eyes shut to try and stop the dizziness.

In the end, she ended up almost running across the bridge, eyes firmly focused on Gandalf who patted her back.

She smiled weakly up at him before she started looking around the courtyard they had just entered via the bridge.

The dwarves stomped their way across the bridge two at time, Bombur bringing up the rear. Once the company was gathered together once more, a tall elf with flowing dark locks descended the stairs at the far side of the courtyard, his movements graceful and fluid.

"Mithrandir!" The elf greeted Gandalf with a respective bow of the head.

"Ah, Lindir!"

Bilbo cocked her head to one side, listening eagerly as the elf started speaking in his native dialect. She was even more delighted when she realised she could more or less understand what he was saying.

 _Thank you Mama_ , she thought blissfully, feeling only mildly disappointed when Lindir went on to answer Gandalf's question in the common tongue.

"Not here?" Gandalf asked frowning, "Where is he?"

Almost as soon as Gandalf finished asking his question, a horn sounded throughout the valley, followed closely by the sound of horses' hoofs hitting dirt at a great pace. Bilbo twisted her head to look behind them back at the bridge and immediately felt her heart beat race.

A group of armed horsemen were charging towards them and the bridge at a rapid pace.

"Ifidi bekar!" Thorin was yelling and Bilbo felt herself being dragged into the ranks of dwarves, forced to stand in the middle of their tight defensive circle. She honestly didn't know if she should feel pleased that they were trying to protect her even when most didn't even appear to like her, or insulted that they simply assumed she couldn't defend herself. Which was true, but did they have to be so obvious with their knowledge of how absolutely useless she was?

"Hold ranks!" Thorin barked as the dwarves pulled their weapons as the armed elves and their horses started trotting circles around the dwarves.

 _Because that's going to help!_ Bilbo thought rather sarcastically in the direction of the elves; _make them feel smaller and even more threatened!_

She crossed her arms and pouted over the whole situation.

The riders and their horses eventually break away, trotting off down another path leading towards Bilbo was guessing stables, until only one rider remains.

"Gandalf!" As the elf approached upon his beautiful stead, Bilbo could see he possessed had a noble and fair face, with an ancient wisdom, far older even than Gandalf, look to his dark eyes.

"Lord Elrond," Gandalf bowed to the elf lord.

Bilbo closed her eyes as she listened to Gandalf and Lord Elrond converse in elvish, the words twisting elegantly within her head.

Lord Elrond swung off his horse and he and the wizard embraced.

"Strange," the elf lord said, "for orcs to come so close to our borders. Something, or someone," He looked calmly over the company, "has drawn them near." He pulled an orc sword from beneath his flowing cloak, holding it aloft for all to see before handing it over to Lindir who took gingerly, disgust written all over his elegant face.

"Ah," Gandalf chuckled, "that may have been us." Gandalf looked back at the company and motion for them to come forward. Bilbo moved to do as Gandalf silently requested, but was stopped by Bofur, who shook his head.

She sighed heavily threw her nose and watched as Thorin, though Dwalin appeared to be against his decision, stepped forward alone.

"Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain." Elrond hailed Thorin with a respective bow of his head towards the dwarven king.

"I do not believe we have met." Thorin replied, his voice measured and back stiff.

"You have your grandfather's bearing. I knew Thror when he ruled under the Mountain."

"Indeed," the tension in Thorin's tone was almost thick enough to cut, "he made no mention of you."

Bilbo simply buried her face in her hands.

 _That dwarf is going to be a political nightmare when he becomes King of his bloody mountain_ , she moaned into her hands.

She didn't lift her face from her hands as Elrond, obviously deciding not to waste his time with taking insult from Thorin's words, went on to declare in elvish for the fires to be lit, and wine to be brought forth.

"What is he saying? Does he offer us insult?" She heard Gloin growl.

"No," She grumbled alongside Gandalf's put upon tone, "he's offering you food." _You ungrateful sods!_ She added silently to herself.

She didn't care that she had several dwarves staring at her, those who realised that she had understood what Lord Elrond had been speaking in his native tongue. She didn't care that some were looking at her with similar looks that they had been sending in the direction of the elves ever since they arrived, even though her cheeks were warm and she felt an unreasonable desire to hide. She didn't care; truly, she didn't care a whit for what the dwarves thought.

"Belladonna Took?" Bilbo nearly tripped over her feet when she heard Lord Elrond address her by her mother's name. She felt the dwarves stiffen around her again.

"Ah," Gandalf beamed at her, motioning for her to come forward and this time, not even Bofur stopped her as she moved to Gandalf's side, her head craned all the way back to look up at the elf lord, "my dear Lord Elrond, let me introduce the daughter of Belladonna Took, Bilbo Baggins."

" _Greeting Bilbo Baggins,_ " Lord Elrond smiled, a hand lightly placed over his heart as he greeted her in elvish, _"I see your mother's spirit lives on with you._ "

" _Hardly_ " Bilbo stammered in return, her elvish slightly broken but clear enough that she didn't appear to be insulting the elf, " _but that is very kind of you to say. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lord._ " She bowed awkwardly and was relieved when she saw the warmth in the elf lord's smile.

Her cheeks only grew warmer and she was more than happy to allow herself to fall back amongst the company while Elrond led them into his beautiful city.

"You speak elvish?" Bofur asked his brown eyes dark with worry. Bilbo only rolled her eyes back at him.

"Very poorly." She retorted with a sigh, "My mother taught me as a child when I grew bored with my lessons." She added as explanation because she was still receiving worried and unhappy looks from the dwarves around her.

"That was the first time I have ever spoken elvish to an elf though," she stared despondently at the beautiful city, "and probably the last time too, I'd rather not go on to embarrass myself further."

"Quite." She heard Thorin say from the front and she felt her cheeks burn once more, ducking her head and twisted her fingers anxiously in front of her,

Why did he have to be like that?

She shook herself, determined not to let Thorin or any of the dwarves ruin her delight of being in Rivendell.

While Gandalf and Lord Elrond disappeared in one direction, the elf Lindir led them to what appeared to be a series of guest chambers, informing them that there was still an hour before the evening meal would be served.

Bilbo was the only one who thanked the elf before he took his leave (quickly with the hint of relief in his aged eyes as he closed the door behind him).

She lower her pack to the floor, rolling her eyes as she did so when she saw that the dwarves appeared to be searching the rooms for traps or other such nonsense.

She ignored the paranoid silliness to instead wander out onto the balcony that looked out over the valley, her head coming to rest upon her arms as she took in the simple and yet surreal beauty around her.

She could have stayed there longer, only the longer she stood there the more she became acutely aware of just how dirty and smelly she was, after days on the road without a proper bath – bathing in cold streams were not… she shuddered and turned back around the sitting room which in a few short moments had been utterly destroyed.

"Why?" Bilbo asked, staring in defeat at the once beautiful and now utterly ruin room.

"You know what," She held up a hand when Dwalin opened his mouth as if to answer her, "I don't want to know. I really don't. You keep ruining things," She stomped over to where her pack still sat on the floor, "I'm going to go and see if I can't find myself a bath."

"No, Lass."

"What do you mean 'no'?" She twisted on her heels to scowl at Dwalin and Gloin, for those were who had spoken in protest to her leaving and were moving forwarded as if to stop her. "If any of you think I will stand to be this dirty for a single moment longer, you, my good sirs, are sorely mistaken. I have spent the majority of the day running for my life from an Orc pack. AND," She threw up a hand to keep any of the dwarves from saying anything while she was still speaking, "on top of that, I am _still_ covered in troll snot from last night when I was used as living, breathing handkerchief! You will not stop me from having a bath!" She reached blindly behind her and picked up the first thing her fingers touched, holding it high above her head, "I will throw this at your head!"

Dwalin looked thoroughly unimpressed by her threat.

"You're threatening us with a cushion?"

"An _elvish_ cushion," Bilbo said wiggling the fingers of her free hand in a way that she supposed might give off the impression of magic being cast, "that was used by elves. It probably has all kinds of elvish magic on it! Anyone hit by this cushion is immediately doomed to like all things elvish." She threatened.

"Lass," Was that a hint of smile from Dwalin? "What are ya on about?"

"Just let me go take a bloody bath!" Bilbo yelled, dropping the cushion to throw her arms in the air. "I can't stand it! Honestly, I have never been this filthy in all my life! Just let me take a bath, I'm begging you!"

"Fine!" Dwalin seemed to be fighting back laughter, "if ya feel so strongly about it. Just don't get carried off, is all."

"Oh, because you'd be _so_ disappointed if that happened." Bilbo countered before quickly fleeing the room to be destroyed some more, her face flushed with embarrassment and frustration.

It was when she was a corridor or so along that she realised two important things. First, she had no idea where a bathing room even was – for all she knew the guest rooms might even have had their own private bathing chambers, she just hadn't had a chance to check – and secondly, in all the fuss with Dwalin and being let out of the room, she forgot her pack so that she might change into a pair of clothes NOT covered in troll snot.

She pressed her face in hands. She didn't want to go back and deal with smug faced dwarves and their prejudice against elves and their furniture.

"Is something the matter?" A soft musical voice enquired causing Bilbo to jump and look around her started.

A tall elven lady was gliding down the corridor towards Bilbo, her long raven locks falling in loose waves down her back.

"Um, ah, you see…" Bilbo blushed to her hairline, "I, uh, I was, um, looking to have a bath. Because I've been traveling and not bathing and um, I would like to, um, have one."

 _Stop_ , she groaned, _please just stop talking_.

The elf maiden smiled and seemed to be not at all bothered by Bilbo's rambling – or smell, which to Bilbo seemed to be growing worse the more she became aware of it – and gestured for Bilbo to follow her.

"Come, I will show you to a bathing chamber you may use. Did the ones in your rooms not suit you?"

"Oh, well, you see, I…" So they did have private bathrooms in their guest rooms, "I'm sure they did-do, I just, um… I didn't see them in my hurry to have some time away from the dwarves." Bilbo finally admitted, sighing.

"That is fair." The elf maiden laughed as she stopped at door at the end of the corridor. "Here, you may bath in this chamber. No one will disturb you, so you need not worry of that."

"Thank you." Bilbo smiled in relief, before turning her head away blushing once more, "I, um, you see in my rush to leave, I…"

"I shall bring some clothing for you to wear to dinner," the elf maiden reassured her gently, "and I can see to having the clothes you have on cleaned for you."

"Really?" Bilbo asked hopefully, looking down at her poor papa's red coat.

"Indeed, Miss Baggins."

"Bilbo, um," she blushed once more, "I'm known as Bilbo."

"Elora," The elf maiden bowed her head slightly.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Elora." Bilbo bowed.

"Think nothing of it." Elora smiled, "please enjoy your bath; I will bring you some fresh clothes. Just leave yours by the bath when you are done and I will see that they are cleaned for you."

Bilbo opened the door to a magnificent bathroom, where the bath itself almost took up the whole room. She would have to watch her step, it looked to be quite deep and Bilbo could barely dog-paddle.

"Thank you again." Bilbo said, smiling blissfully at the bath. Elora laughed a bell-like laugh before taking her leave and Bilbo promptly closed the door and striped herself of her filthy sweat and snot ridden clothes. She had been half tempted to simply jump, fully clothed into the bath, before deciding against it. Her clothes would be properly cleaned by the elves anyway.

The water was delightfully warm against Bilbo's dry, battered skin. She hissed as the tension in her muscle released and had to grab onto the sides of the bath to keep herself from sagging underneath the surface of the water.

The bath appeared to be built on a slope, with one end being shallow – shallow to an elf, it came mid-chest to Bilbo – while the other end being quite deep – for a Hobbit. But thankfully everything Bilbo required to become clean was all easily accessible at the shallow end of the bath.

Bilbo had a wonderful time, smelling the different body and hair soaps, taking her time choosing which ones she wanted to use, rubbing them furiously over her skin and into her hair, so that her skin came up red and smarting but clean, so clean and her hair felt soft and floating.

When she was certain that she was as clean as she was ever going to be, she hopped out of the huge bath, wrapping herself firmly in a towel. She was not surprised to find while she had been bathing that some fresh clothes had been left for her just outside the bathing chamber door.

The clothes were soft and silk-like in feel, simple but beautiful. They must have been the clothes of a girl child for they were almost just the right size, but possibly a little tight around her hips when she first pulled the green fabric over her head, but once she had pulled it just so, the dress fell with a lovely swoosh around her feet.

She had never worn something so lovely before in her whole life. Even her own wedding dress which had had various members of her very large family working on it to make it just right, was nothing compared to this pretty gown. She felt rather like a child playing dress-up and instantly wished she had bought her pack with her so that she might have changed into a spare pair of clothes.

 _Oh, well_ , she thought as she spun one last time in the long mirror that stood on one side of the bath chamber, _not much one can do about that now._

She placed her dirty clothes in a neat pile by the door, the towel now wrapped around her head to help dry her wet curls and she made her way back to the chambers that she and the company had been assigned.

Knocking a little hesitantly on the door, she called, "How much more have you destroyed since I was in my bath?"

The door was opened by Bofur who grinned his usual cheeky smile, though he did do something of double-take when he saw her, looking her up and down in an almost speechless manner.

"I forgot to take my pack." She grumbled defensively as she pushed her way past him, rubbing her hair as she went.

"Oh, really?" She sighed, when she took in the state of the room. Almost all the furniture in it had been either destroyed or shoved to the side and it seemed that every bed that had been provided for them had been stripped of its sheets. And she had been so looking forward to sleeping in a bed too. "Really? Must we sleep on the floor?"

She received several looks that had her simply groaning over the ridiculous paranoia of dwarves before she stomped back out to the balcony to see if her hair would dry faster in the fading evening light.

It does, the warm air of the valley appeared to agree with her curls because for once when she is pulling her fingers through her locks, she is met with no tangles or snares and in no time at all, her hair looked presentable in a way it would never do back in the Shire without a good hard brush.

She can feel the eyes of the dwarves upon her and she has to fight the desire to run and hide somewhere because she has never liked being the centre of attention, preferring to stand on the sideline unless she is to sing or spin a tale under the Party Tree.

Her cheeks are warm and it takes all of her will power not to duck her head so that her hair might fall into her face when she returns to the room from the balcony.

"Do you think it is time to go?" She asks no one in particular because she cannot bear the silence nor the odd looks being sent her way, some even seem hostile.

Yes, wearing the elven dress had probably been a bad idea, but she refused to wear those dirty clothes again, not until they were cleaned to a reasonable state.

And as if some higher power heard her question, there was a polite knock on the door – the dwarves immediately jumped into a defensive stance, which Bilbo ignored, along with the grumbles when she went to open the door – and the same pretty but pained face elf from earlier stood there, offering to escort them all to supper with Lord Elrond.

"We'd be delight." Bilbo said smiling sweetly while behind her were only more grumbles and possibly a curse or two in dwarvish.

She received a small smile from the elf before her turned on his heel with a flourish.

"Careful lass," Bofur said as he, Bombur and Bifur fell in step with her as the company were led to where they were to have supper by Lindir, "point-y eared buggers might want to snap you up."

"Hardly," She laughed softly, "I doubt I would make much of pet for them, not when they hear how many times I need to be fed throughout a day." Her tummy was quick to rumble in agreement. When was the last time she had eaten? Yesterday lunch? She had missed dinner because of the whole trolls' incident and breakfast had only been a small affair because they hadn't really gotten themselves sorted before Radagast and the Wargs appeared.

"Ah, but mayhaps they might not mind. Might be they are better masters than us." Bofur teased, but for some reason there seemed to be a worried look to his dark brown eyes. She didn't quite understand why it was there or what had caused it but her desire for it to be gone made her knock her shoulder fondly against his side and grin a wide fond smile.

"Never," she smiled and felt him and the rest of his small family relax, with a pat received on her back from Bombur and Bifur.

Yes, she might not always get along with the rest of the company but in these three dwarves, these three she found truer friends than she had ever hoped to find, even in the Shire, where most hobbits her age think her strange or look and see only her family fortune.

 **HiBtWH**

Bilbo sat at the low table, looking around her eagerly at the large round room they were in. Bilbo wasn't entirely sure if it could be actually called a room at all though, given there being almost no walls to speak of, just a few pillars holding up the roof as the room over looked the valley.

And the view was breathtaking, the trees glowed golden in the evening light and she could hear the roaring sounds of waterfalls. She had never seen so many waterfalls in all her life.

"Lassie, could you try and not look so happy and excited?" She twisted her head around to pout at Dori before giving a dignified little sniff, causing Ori, who was sitting by his ever fussing brother, to let out a small giggle.

A part of Bilbo wished she could be sitting up at the high table with Gandalf and Lord Elrond, if only because she knew that her enthusiasm for this beautiful place would not be looked down upon. Well possibly not, Thorin was sitting at that table too.

She sighed heavily as she listened to the dwarves complaints over the lack of meat and the fact that the only food available to them was green vegetables and fruit.

She twisted her head around to look behind her, and building up her courage, she lightly touched the sleeve of a passing elf, who paused in his movement and bent slightly at the waist, so that he was more or less eye level with her.

She heard upset protests from the dwarves, but ignored them.

"Good evening," She started softly, hating how high her voice was when she spoke to the elf, "I was-my friends and I were just wondering, as lovely as this spread is," she gestured at the table, "we've been on the road for many days, on rations, you see, and I was just wondering, if you might have something more…"

"Substantial?" the elf finished for her kindly and Bilbo let out a small relieve huff of breath.

"Yes, please. Only if you are able to of course." She added quickly, "We would hate to put you out of your way."

"We will see what we can do for you, little one." The elf smiled and quickly disappeared from the room.

"Lass…" Balin sighed, pinching his nose.

"Yes?" She asked with wide eyes, "It does not hurt to ask. You are hungry are you not?"

Balin simply shook his head.

Though moments later, he was smiling when several elves entered the room carrying trays of different cheeses, fruits and plates of cooked fish. There was even a large bowl of chips.

"Thank you." Bilbo said brightly to the elves who smiled warmly in returned though their eyes held a hint of despairs when the dwarves simply dug into the new lay of food without even a word of thanks.

She nibbled on some fruit while quietly listening in on the conversation that Lord Elrond was having with Thorin and Gandalf. They appeared to be discussing the swords that had been found in the Troll's hoard. Apparently, according to Lord Elrond, the swords were of great importance in ages long gone by.

She stared down at her own little blade that she had been bullied into strapping to her waist by the dwarves even though she felt incredibly silly wearing it to a dinner and with a dress!

Did her little blade have a name?

"I wouldn't bother lassie?" Balin said from her side, noticing her gaze upon the sword in her lap, "Swords are named for the great deeds they do in war."

"What are you saying?" Bilbo asked as a frown pulled at her brow, "You don't think my sword has seen battle?"

Balin looked from her blade with a bemused expression.

"I'm not actually sure it is a sword; more of a letter opener, really?" He gave her an apologetic look as she tried to splutter out protests in defence of her sword. It was quite certainly more than just a letter opened!

Balin pattered her lightly on the back as she continued to splutter before he returned his attention to his food, advising her gently that she should do the same. She did so, albeit a little grudgingly, the slight against her sword stung more than she liked to admit and her previously good mood had damped quite a bit.

All around her she could feel the dwarves growing all the more restless in their seats. Thorin, she noted had already left his seat at the high table where Gandalf and Lord Elrond still sat, conversing softly with each other, and was now standing, arms crossed at the other end of the two tables the dwarves were sitting, near to his nephews who were trying unsuccessfully to engage him in their conversation.

 _Let your uncle brood_ , she thought to the two boys, _he is useless to anyone when he's in this kind of mood._

She dropped her head to stare into her lap, worried that Thorin's perceptive gaze might catch her watching him, notice her blush and would somehow know she had been thinking about him.

She was, however, pulled from her embarrassed thoughts by Bofur suddenly bounding to his feet, a mischief grin dancing upon his lips, a merry winkle to his warm brown eyes.

Her mouth simply dropped as he continued to bounce so that he came to stand on top of a podium that stood near to the tables where they all sat.

Catching her eye, he winked broadly and open his mouth wide as if he were about to sing.

Oh no… He wouldn't…

Would he?

 _There is an inn, a merry old inn_

What was she thinking, of course he would!

She buried her face in her hands in modification as Bofur went on to sing her 'Man in the Moon' song.

All around her she could hear the rest of the company cheering and when she dared to look up and between her fingers to see what was happening and saw that she had seen all this before, back in Bag End, where she hadn't been able to fully comprehend just how rude a dinner guest these dwarves could be. It had been bad enough in her very own home with them throwing food all over the place and almost destroying her plates and cutlery, but to do the very same in the house of an Elf lord!

She looked helplessly over a Gandalf who seemed to be trying to remain as calm and refined as possible while the dwarves reigned chaos upon the elven halls of Lord Elrond.

Lord Elrond simply wore an expression of exasperated acceptance as he watched the madness while the rest of his court looked on in horror. Or as horrified as elves could manage to look, some simply looked disgusted by the display.

Bilbo went back to looking at the dwarves and found a swell of surprise and… warmth bloom within her chest when she saw that as well as throwing their food everywhere they were also… singing along with Bofur.

They were singing her song!

They… did they know it was _her_ song? They must… as she had taught Bofur the tune while they had been riding and he hadn't exactly been quiet as he learnt the words. They hadn't joined in then, but now, now they were singing it at the top of their lungs, with a few even shooting her knowing, teasing looks, so of course they knew it was her song and…

Oh, she didn't know whether to be horribly embarrassed or absolutely delighted that they were singing it.

And – and, Thorin was dancing?

Her mouth dropped as she stared at the dwarven king in disbelief.

Thorin Oakenshield! The Thorin Oakenshield was dancing! To _her_ song!

Though, mind you, it was a very small dance; the tapping of a foot, a small jig of his body as he nodded his head in time with Bofur's singing, but it was, by full definition of the word, dancing.

Thorin was dancing to one of her songs.

She felt a childish desire to clap her hands in delight at this discovering before quickly reminding herself that this was Thorin Oakenshield after all, and he would certainly not appreciate her seeing him in a moment of… weakness? No, light-heartedness, maybe? Either way, he would not appreciate her catching him smiling.

And as it was, upon catching her eye, he immediately stopped his odd little jig and fixed her with a hard look.

Feeling suddenly quite bold – or maybe it was simply stupidity – she rolled her eyes back at him and without another thought of what was proper or right, she opened her mouth and she started to sing.

She startled a number of dwarves around her but she didn't care and the wink from Bofur, the pat on the back from Balin, the toasting from Gloin and the twinkle in the eye look Gandalf gave her more than made up for the discomfort she felt of singing essentially a pub song in front of the creatures she had been dying to meet since she was a little hobbit lass.

Her cheeks felt hot and there was a part of her that would very much like to have simply sunk into the ground at that very moment, but she forced herself to ignore that particular desire and instead simply raised her voice to be heard over the deeper vocal cords of the dwarves.

She had always possessed a powerful set of pipes but never before had she had to work them so hard. And it was… wonderful.

She had always loved to sing, as much as she loved to spin tales and to sing like this, even if it was only a silly party song she had made up years before was an absolute delight.

She swore she even saw Thorin smiling out of the corner of her eye but of course when she looked again just to check his customary scowl was in place once more.

Well bother him, let him be sour, she refused to allow him and his prejudice to ruin her time spent in this wonderful city.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thank you for reading and reviews are greatly appreciated. If you have any thoughts or questions, please feel free to put them into a review or to PM to me, I love reading them and will answer the best I can without giving away too many spoilers.


	9. By Day We Wander, By Night We Wonder

**17/03/2018 Author's Note:** Good evening good my dear readers. I hope you are all having a good day/night wherever you are around our world. I've spend my day trying to write but I had a bit of an anxiety attack and have only really just settled down from it about two hours ago and so far the only "writing" I have been able to do was edit this chapter... and no, I didn't manage to edit it down, so it is rather long (around 19 pages in a word doc. I've read chapters that are far longer than that, but for me, 19 pages is long). But it's a fun chapter. I had fun writing it and I hope you all have just as much fun reading it.

Please enjoy

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

 **By Day We Wander,**

 **By Night We Wonder**

Bilbo woke the next morning feel more energised then she had felt in a long, long time.

She leapt up from her sleeping spot on the floor in the middle of the main living chamber that the elves had kindly leant to the dwarves for the duration of their stay. Mind you, Bilbo was certain the elves had not meant for the dwarves to destroy almost every single piece of furniture within said room and all its adjoining rooms.

She bit back a sigh as she looked at the pile of wood tucked to one corner that Bilbo was sure had once been a bed. Or possibly, multiple beds.

She wondered if any money from the dwarves fund would have to be handed over to elves once their stay in Rivendell was complete.

She let out a small undignified snort at the very thought.

The dwarves, for all their claims of being an honourable bunch she didn't see them paying so much as a piece of copper to make up for the damages they had done to the elves property.

"You're up early." A low gruff voice spoke suddenly pulling her from her thoughts with a small squeak.

"Good morning." She yelped back, a hand pressed over her pounding heart as she stared at the dwarf king sitting with his back against the large arc doorway that lead out to one of the many balconies that overlooked the stunning valley.

Thorin inclined his head slightly back to her in response, before returning to chewing thoughtfully upon his pipe, his gaze drifting out towards the golden and bronze treetops.

Bilbo picked her way carefully and soundlessly around her still sleeping companions as she made her way over to the balcony and Thorin – her feet still ached from the rough handling they had received from the trolls but after smearing her feet last night with Oin's smelly ointment, they felt much better.

She couldn't help but grin just a little when Thorin twitched slightly in surprise when he saw that she was standing beside him, but she was quick to smoother the grin when she saw the dark circles under his eyes and the fact that it appeared he had not slept a wink.

"Did you not sleep at all last night?" Bilbo demanded, concern interlaced with her words.

"Someone had to keep watch." Thorin grunted in reply, rotating a shoulder so that it gave an almost deafening crack.

"But…" she stammered, feeling the familiar wave of uncertainty and self-consciousness that she felt whenever she spoke even a word in Thorin's direction. And given that their last conversation had really been him berating her, she was quite keen to keep this conversation civil for as long as possible, "we're safe here. Gandalf…"

"Gandalf is far too trusting for his own good." Thorin muttered though the harshness in his tone seemed to be for once not directed at her, "As are you." He added giving her a quick piecing look that had her want to shy away though she was somehow able to continue meeting his eyes. And it was he and not she, who was the first to look away, twisting his pipe in his hands.

"You at least have the excuse of coming from a gentle land where trust is a simple and easy thing to come by. Gandalf should know better." He muttered darkly, his eyes entirely focused upon his pipe as he continued to turn it in his hands.

"Maybe he does." She replied, heart pounding in her throat, "maybe he is trusting that his long-standing friendship with the elves will be enough for the elves to help us, despite the ill-history that is shared between dwarves and elves. Maybe he is trusting that the elves fear losing his friendship by causing us harm more than they are interested in inflicting ill-will upon us." She looked away from Thorin as she spoke, arms crossed tightly against her chest as her rambling wound slowly down to a stop.

"Is that truly what you belief?" Thorin asked after a torturous long moment of silence.

She hesitated for a moment before answering him truthfully.

"Actually, I just thought all that up on the spot," She admitted with a weak little shrug, "truthfully, I see no reason to distrust them, but," She held up a hand to stop the furious protests that she knew was building within Thorin, "as you said, I come from a very gentle land where trusting others to do right by me is very easy. I also don't have the long and bloody history that dwarves and elves share, so I have no reason to distrust them. Just as I had no reason to distrust any of you when you all came barrelling through my front door over a month or so ago."

"So you're saying…" Thorin started, eyebrows raised and challenging.

"I'm saying…" she rubbed the side of her face, feeling suddenly very weary, "a lot on a matter I don't truly understand. The elves seem to be willing enough to offer us shelter, and have done nothing to warrant the belief that they will cause us harm. Maybe this is purely because of their friendship with Gandalf or maybe they are simply kind to all weary travellers that stumble upon their lands. I don't know." She thought for a moment before she continued, "they have not asked us anything about where we are going." She paused and gave him a searching look, and received a curt nod in response, "and maybe that will change once we show Lord Elrond the map, but I do not think Gandalf will sell out our quest even to him. I just… I think we should trust that Gandalf knows what he's doing." She shrugged as she looked out over the post-dawn lit valley, "he is a wizard after all. And," she added shooting him the same look that had been sent in her direction many a time over the years by various aunts, "you need to sleep or you'll be no good to anyone, least of all yourself."

"You still have no idea what you're talking about." Thorin grunted, but she thought she saw some of the stiffness leaving his shoulders.

"Well, if the elves come for us in the middle of the night with their bows drawn you have permission to tell me 'I told you so'."

"When they refuse to allow us to leave this valley when they inevitably find out about our quest, I will not need your permission to do so."

Bilbo simply rolled her eyes back at him.

"Fine." She hesitated for a moment, before adding in an uncertain tone, "There's may be another hour or two before anyone else is likely to get up, do you think you might try and get some sleep? I'll keep watch, of course." She quickly tacked on, when she saw him stiffen again. "I just, I mean…"she trailed off with a wince, wishing she was talking with any other dwarf but him. Even Dwalin or Gloin would be preferable to him and those two had never exactly hidden their distain regarding her presence in the company. Though why, when they had seemed perfectly amicable that first night, she couldn't quite comprehend.

For several moments, they stared at each other without speaking, the awkward silence growing heavier between them until finally Thorin got to his feet.

"If I wake to an arrow being directed at my face Master Baggins, I will be most unimpressed." Thorin grumbled as he past her.

Bilbo felt her mouth grow slack for a moment before she spluttered out, "Did you just make a joke?"

Thorin simply shot her a look before continuing a slow, heavy trodden march to where his pack was sitting, and after a moment of fussing, he was settling down with his back to her. She was certain that he was asleep the moment his head hit his folded clock.

Sighing heavily, she settled herself down in Thorin's vacated post and watched the sun fully bask the valley in golden light.

 **HiBtWH**

While the dwarves wasted the day sleeping or destroying more elvish furniture, Bilbo was out exploring the elven city. Every inch of the city was a marvel and Bilbo felt almost overwhelmed by the sheer history it possessed. But as in awe as she was with the city, she also felt quite small and insignificant. Being in the company of the dwarves and Gandalf were one thing, but to walk among beings that lived thousands of years was… astounding? Humbling?

Her whole life-span was a mere blink of an eye for any one of these elves.

Never before had Bilbo been quite so aware of her own mortality as she was in that moment, leaning against the railings of a courtyard balcony staring out over the trees and rivers that ran through the valley outside of the elvish city.

"Not with your companions?" a soft voice queried near and above her causing her to jump, almost tripping over her feet as she stared up in embarrassment at Lord Elrond. She hadn't even heard him come up to her!

"I, um, well," She blushed brightly, ducking her head, "No. But I don't believe I shall be missed." She found herself admitting as she looked back up at the wise elf, who despite his many years walking this earth and probably had far better things to be doing with his time than talking with her, he seemed… interested, in her.

"Truth be told," She continued in a lowered almost conspiracy tone, "most of them think I should not be on this journey."

She winced as she admitted the truth out loud, feeling the familiar sharp pang shoot through her chest at the thought.

"Indeed," Lord Elrond said as he came to lean against the railing beside her, almost lowering himself to her own height, "I've heard that Hobbits are rather resilient."

Bilbo blinked, somewhat taken aback.

"Really?" She paused for a moment before hesitantly querying, "My mother?"

"Indeed," Lord Elrond nodded, "your mother was quite a remarkable hobbit. I was sorry to hear that she has passed. She possessed much life and joy when we met."

Bilbo smiled softly, ignoring the itch behind her eyes as she stared once more out at the valley.

"I've also heard," Lord Elrond continued after a quiet moment, "hobbits are fond of the comforts of home."

"Well," Bilbo replied with an ever so cheeky grin pulling at her lips, "I've heard that it is unwise to seek the council of elves, for they will answer with yes and no."

She blushed again when she received an extremely dry look from the Elf Lord.

"I, um, I'm…" She trailed off when he smiled. Her whole body relaxing as she let out a relieved little laugh.

"You are very welcome to stay here," Lord Elrond offered suddenly, causing Bilbo's laughter to come to an abrupt stop, her mouth simply hanging open as she stared up at the elf in disbelief, "if that is your wish."

"Stay?" She squeaked, unable to quite comprehend what he was actually saying. "Here? In Rivendell? Me?"

Lord Elrond simply smiled more broadly, obviously amused by her astonishment.

"You very welcome to, if you so wish."

"I," she simply stared up at him, "I don't really know what to say."

The elf lord gave an easy and effortlessly graceful shrug of his shoulders, still smiling.

"You need not say anything now. It is a decision to be thought on, not to be decided upon in the spur of the moment."

"Did you make the same offer to my mother?" Bilbo asked.

"I did,"

"And she didn't accept?" Bilbo asked in disbelief, shaking her head.

"Your mother knew where the home of her heart was and it was not here in Rivendell."

Bilbo lay a hand over her own heart and wonder where its home lay. Not the Shire, somehow she was certain of that. Maybe here in Rivendell? Close, but…

"I don't think I know where the home to my heart is." Bilbo admitted, before blushing once again for admitting something so intimate to such an ancient being.

Lord Elrond, however, did not appear to judge. If anything, he seemed to be thinking over her words thoroughly.

"For some people, their heart lies in a place. The place that they were born; or a place that they have found on their own and have come to call their home. For others," he looked out over the valley, "their heart decides upon a person or sometimes several people to call its home. When the time comes, your heart will know where its home is."

"And if it never does?" Bilbo asked in a small voice.

"I do not believe that will be your fate Bilbo Baggins." Lord Elrond responded kindly, laying a gentle hand upon her shoulder.

"Come," He continued before she could sink further down into her spiral of worry, "I believe you have not yet seen our library. It was one of your mother's favourite places during her time with us."

"Library?" Bilbo felt her spirits immediately sour.

"Indeed."

"I can…" She trailed off for a moment before continuing, "I'm allowed to go in, to see… and read?"

"Of course," Lord Elrond gave a soft laugh, "libraries should be open to any mind willing to learn."

Her heart swelled with excitement that only grew with each step she took as she followed after Elrond.

"Oh," she whispered, hands pressed lightly against her lips as she stared in wonder, tears prickling behind her eyes, at the massive, high ceiling chamber Lord Elrond had led her to. Shelf after shelf of books, tomes and scrolls stood proudly before her, enticing her to step forward and completely loose herself within their pages of wisdom and knowledge.

She took an eager step forward, before stopping and looking cautiously up at Lord Elrond.

"You are very welcome to read whatever you so desire." He replied to her unasked question with another soft smile. She let out a breathless laugh of delight before eagerly making her way to the closest shelf of books.

Where to start? So, _so_ many books and so little time to read them all.

Her fingers brushed lovingly over the spines of books that had seen possibly century's worth of readers, readers who were actually worthy of having the knowledge of these beautiful books imparted upon them.

"Books are meant for all to read." Lord Elrond said softly from behind her, "no matter how small the reader may be. As long as there is a thirst to learn and grow with knowledge, no book will judge its reader."

She turned back to him with a wide smile.

"Thank you." She said softly before blushing dark crimson when he bowed deeply to her.

"You are most welcome Billanna Baggins." She jumped when he spoke the name that had been given to her in birth but said nothing of.

"Can I, I mean, may I borrow the books that take my fancy and…"

"You may take any book that has your fancy with you to any part of Rivendell."

"I will make sure no harm comes to them," She promised with her hand pressed over her heart and her mother's ring, "I swear. I will take good care of them."

"I believe you Bilbo Baggins. And now," He looked rather regretful, "I must take your leave, for there are matters I must see to." He bowed to her again causing her to only blush more hotly, "we will see each other again when evening comes to pass. There are matters, I believe, that Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield wish to discuss and your presences will be required."

"Will it?" She asked feeling rather confused as to what she might be able to contribute to any meeting between a wizard, an elf lord and an exiled dwarf king.

Elrond did not reply, instead telling her to enjoy her time spent in the library. And then she was left to her own devices, surrounded by more books than she had ever seen in all her life. All the books in the Shire would not have taken up even a quarter of the chamber that was the Rivendell's library.

Still fighting back delighted tears, she started her browsing for the shelves, plucking out books that took her interest (a difficult feat when every book within the library was almost singing to her to pick them up and read them).

In the end the collection of books she had gathered were books on Elvish history, a book of the different languages within Middle-Earth and several tomes regarding dwarven customs – she had spent a long time toing and froing with these books, unsure if the company would take offense to her reading books written by elves about them, but in the end decided that her desire to learn overwhelmed her fear of further reproach and rejection from the dwarves. If they had a problem with her trying to get to know them better… well tough luck.

She had tried to be civil, asking them first and receiving only cold-shoulders and half-hearted responses that left her with more questions than answers. So of course her next course of action was to consult books. Yes, books written by elves but these were the closest she was seemingly ever going to get to understanding even a little about her company of dwarves. And if it truly did bother them, her reading these books, well then, she could simply return them.

It just didn't seem fair that she was risking her life for them to be their burglar on this death-trap of a quest and they couldn't bring themselves to answer just a few simple questions about their culture and history? Desperate times meant desperate measures had to be taken.

The last book she added to her pile was one of elvish fae tales. She had been just about ready to leave the library when the faded spin caught her eye. It appeared to be a very old book, the cover faded but still in beautiful condition despite its obvious age. It was written in Sindarin but as it was book of fae tales, the stories within were easy enough for her to read without much effort.

Tears had pricked behind her eyes when she spied fae tales that were familiar to her, ones her mother told throughout her girlhood. Old memories of a golden childhood long lost pour into her heart and she let out a small sniff.

She hugged the book close to her chest, before adding neatly to the top of her pile to read.

 **HiBtWH**

She didn't like kicking closed doors, not to open them or to make enough noise to get the attention of someone on the other side, but as her arms were quite full of books – a precarious stack that was as high as her head. She was amazed she had been able to make it back to the chambers she and the dwarves were staying in without the stack sliding once – she found she was rather out of any other options that might have been otherwise available to her.

The dwarves had proven to be deaf to her voice on numerous occasions already, but a good solid kick to the oak of the door was enough to shut up the conversation on the other side and for heavy feet to come trotting quickly to the door.

"Eh, laddies," She heard Bofur chuckle as the door opened, "it seems our Burglar has been consumed by books."

"Oh hardy ha ha." Bilbo retorted with a fake laugh as she walked past him, her back as straight as possible, taking every precaution not to jostle her stack of books.

"Lass, there ain't no way ya gonna read all those." Nori called from where he was smoking his pipe on the balcony.

"You, good sir," Bilbo countered as she claimed the only remaining piece of furniture that seemed to have escaped the fate of its comrades of being utterly destroyed. She wasn't entirely sure why this particular armchair had escaped being demolished with the rest of the room, and honestly she didn't care, it was hers now, and so help any dwarf who took it into his head to destroy it now, "have never seen me read before."

"I've seen Ori," Nori replied a mischief twinkle to his eyes, "and he's plenty fast at reading, but even he would pause trying to finish a pile such as that. Eh, Ori?" He nudge his younger brother who was eying her stack of books that she had set neatly down by her claimed armchair with an almost hungry expression on his sweet face.

"And he's most welcome to read the ones that I finish." She said, though this was more directed at the younger dwarf who gave her such a sweet smile she felt a surge of warmth in her chest.

"Still ain't gonna read 'em all." Nori said shaking his head.

Bilbo stared him straight in the eye as she hopped up into the armchair, her hands already opening the first book.

"Watch me." She replied, more than happy to accept the challenge he was offering her. There were several barks of laughter at her bold tone, but she ignored them to settle into her book.

In fact most of her afternoon was spent ignoring the dwarves and their futile attempts to distract from her book. They would have failed on principle – Bilbo could be very stubborn when she wanted to be and if she decided to ignore someone or a group of extremely annoying, arrogant sods, then dammit, she will ignore them until her last breath – but the first book she had chosen to read was truly an engrossing one and she was quickly lost in a time long past, of people and places that no longer existed, of battles that had shaped and destroy kingdoms.

She would almost think the book were something of a work of fiction, the fantastical events that occurred within its pages were far to mind-blowing to believe that they might have actually happened, even thousands of years ago, but this book claimed to utterly historical, with a foreword at the front from Lord Elrond himself confirming that events detailed in the book were indeed factual and had not been embellished in anyway.

"Lass, ya ain't gonna just sit and read the whole time, are ya?" Bofur asked as the shadows crawled heavily across the ceiling and she was leaning as far over the arm of the chair, the book dangling over the edge so that she could keep reading by the ever fading light.

"You're not going to keep destroy things the whole time, are you?" She retorted not even glancing up from the page she was currently reading.

"Well…" there was a heavy pause and she snorted.

"There's your answer then." She said, though she knew she would have to stop soon to find herself a candle. And maybe to find herself a quick snack while she was at it.

"Lass…"

"Shush," She grumbled at him irritably, "I've gotten to a good bit. Talk to me at dinner."

"It's time for dinner Lass," She heard Balin say from nearby, a smile to his voice.

"Oh," and for the first time in probably four hours she looked up from her book. And winced. Her neck gave a sharp twinge of protest from the angle she had been reading by. It had been a long time since she had be so truly engrossed in a good book, her neck had all but forgot all the angles she read by.

With a quick roll of her head, her neck cracked delightfully –the dwarves near to her looked on with expressions of barely concealed horror. Though honestly, like they were ones to talk; she had spent the past month watching Dwalin crack each one of his knuckles, once in the morning and once again in the evening, so her little neck crack was nothing. – she hopped lightly out of her chair, her book tucked carefully under arm as she strolled to the door.

"You are not going to read at the table, are you?" Dori asked, looking utterly horrified by the idea.

"Oh please, because you are truly ones to care about table etiquette!" Bilbo snorted as she stared at the fusspot dwarf with her best ' _please, I've seen how you all eat, you have no grounds to lecture me about possibly reading a book at the dinner table'_ look.

Dori's expression became so flustered, that Bilbo felt some of her resolve falter, much to the annoyance of her Took side.

 _Show some backbone_! Her Took side groused.

"Look, it is just a habit." She admitted, looking down at the book tucked under her arm longingly, "A habit back home, for me to read at my dinner table. It's habit for me to walk around with a book under my arm everywhere I go." She shrugged a little ruefully, "I like to read. A lot."

"But I promise," She said with a small teasing grin, "I will do my very best to not read at the table and embarrass you all."

She was cuffed lightly over the head by Nori who let out a laughing bark.

"Read a'way lassie, let those pointy-ear buggers know how boring ya find them."

"Oh," she pouted as the company left their chamber, "but I don't find them to be boring at all. Quite the opposite actually."

She kept her chin level as she received several hard looks for that one.

"They write quite well for one." She continued, looking down again at her book, "I've always found written history to be quite boring – though mostly due to the only written history I've read is from books written by hobbits and we… don't truly have much of a history to speak of really – but this, this is fascinating. It talks about things that happened in the First Age! The _First_!" And so on she gushed even though she could tell that most of the dwarves truly didn't care but given what they made her put up with so far on this quest, she was more than content to make them suffer her ramblings. And given that none of them told her shut it after a good five minutes, spoke volumes she guessed for how far they had all come.

"How could you have read that much in just one afternoon?" Kili questioned as they all sat down at their assigned table, his expression could only be described as one of awe.

"Um, I just can." Bilbo replied with a small shy shrug, "I like learning, so… it's easy to become engrossed."

"But you remember!" Kili gawked in astonishment.

"Oh, yes. I guess it's what you might call a talent. If I'm truly interested, I can usually remember a book word for word. Makes re-reading it a bit of challenge though. Bit boring reading something you remember so vividly." She grimaced in a wistful fashion, "And we get so few new books in the Shire." She sighed mournfully over that simple fact of Shire-life.

"Can you read Elvish?" Ori asked softly, his eyes bright with caution curiosity. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see several of the older dwarves listening in on their conversation.

"I know how to read quite a bit of text written in Sindarin." Bilbo admitted, "but I would struggle I think with Quenya. I've only ever heard it spoken – and then, maybe only a handful of times. My mother was the most confident in teaching me Sindarin. We," and a small smile started to play on her lips as she remembered, "ah, created our own Sindarin translation book, for our own amusement and to pass the time on some rainy afternoons."

"Could you understand Silvan?" Thorin asked out of the blue and their whole table fell silent, the dwarves looking between their king and her. Most of the dwarves stared at their king in confusion while Balin's eyes were bright with understanding.

"Silvan?" Bilbo asked softly, rolling the word over her tongue, "the language of the wood elves?" her brow forwarded a little as she tried to remember more, "I mean, the language spoken most commonly by the elves of Mirkwood." She corrected herself with a small blush.

"I, um, I think so." She continued slowly as she chewed over the idea, "I think one of the books in my pile has several chapters dedicated to the Silvan language, but," She thought another moment or two longer, "But yes, I could. If the situation called for it, I could understand Silvan."

Thorin nodded with a thoughtful expression but before Bilbo could ask why her being able to understand Silvan had any importance to their quest, dinner was being served by elves who were all wearing the same wearisome expression, and she was once more forgotten as the dwarves broke into loud (exaggeratingly loud) conversation as they started filling their plates with food.

Bilbo simply sat there for a long moment, her mind still chewing over that rather odd conversation with Thorin.

Why did he even care? Hadn't he been angry with her only yesterday for her understanding and speaking Sindarin? What made her possibly understanding Silvan, in his mind, any better?

She knew that they would probably be either passing or going through Mirkwood, once known as Greenwood the Great, on their journey to Erebor. But she could hardly see Thorin being any more agreeable to meeting with the elves of Mirkwood than he was about coming to Rivendell. So why…

Her tummy grumbling hungrily pulled her from her thoughts and she quickly put together a plate for herself before all the food disappeared into the bellies of hungry dwarves.

Her promise of not reading at the table was quickly broken when she saw that the conversation at the table had no room for her join in.

As surreptitiously as possible, she turned so her back was more or less facing the others as she opened the book the top of the table – she had learnt the hard way of what happened to books when you tried reading them in your lap at the table while eating – making sure there were a few high bowls of salad and pitchers of water to block her from view. She was for once glad to be seated on the fridges of the group, meaning she could spread out a little at the end of the table.

She leant her elbow against the table, her cheek resting comfortably upon her palm as she quietly nibbled upon some cheese as she read.

She heard a soft snort from across the table from where the Broadbeams were sitting but after a quick warning glance to tell them 'to shush' she went right back to reading her book. The elves who took away the plates even smiled at her, true, genuine smiles when they saw the book she was reading, so a good chunk of her guilt over reading at the table was erased.

Sticking her finger in between the pages of the book, she made to follow the rest of the company back to their chambers only for Gandalf to call for her to stop.

She hesitated uneasily as the rest of the company, barring Thorin and Balin, left the veranda where they had eaten dinner.

She followed awkwardly after Thorin, Balin and Gandalf as Lord Elrond lead them from the veranda in a different direction to the way the rest of the dwarves had gone.

"Keep up lass." Balin said though not unkindly when he noticed she was following them at a distance, her eyes wide and filled with uncertainty as to why she had to come along, "would not do for you to get lost."

She picked up her pace a little, so that she was step with the older dwarf, her head twisting around her continuously, as she took in the pretty elven city in the nightlight.

They followed Lord Elrond into the grandest study Bilbo had ever seen in her life, with high arching ceiling, bookshelves and grand old maps covering every wall, along with beautifully woven tapestries and ancient weapons that glinted in the moonlight.

She sucked in a small appreciative gasp as she turned in a slow circle to try and take in every detail of the grand room she was in.

She received small smiles from both Gandalf and Lord Elrond while Balin just gave her a pained sort of expression and Thorin… Thorin looked strangely frustrated. But for once not at her… or at least, not entirely at her.

He met her gaze and held it; his blue eyes seemed to be searching her very soul before he looked away, his expression changing to one of discouragement before becoming closed and distant.

Bilbo felt her cheeks burn with confused embarrassment, her own eyes dropping to stare at her book still clasped tightly in her hands.

She allowed for herself to fade into the background as the two dwarves, the wizard and high elf spoke, rolling her eyes at the polite nothingness Thorin and Balin spoke while Gandalf tried to steer them in the direction he wanted and Lord Elrond simply stood and watched the three with a look of one who had seen such situations as these many, many times before.

Bilbo wandered over to a table where a huge map of Middle-Earth was spread out upon the length of it.

Counting softly under her breath, she used the width between her pointer and middle finger to walk the most direct route between Rivendell all the way to the Lonely Mountain.

She did the walk twice, and then a third time before she stopped with a wince and a throbbing head. For sheer curiosity sake, she did the walk again, this time taking indirect routes, going around mountain ranges and huge forests, and still came away grimacing and rubbing her temple.

From what she could see from the map, there were pros and cons to any way they tried to get to the mountain, for any way they did, the journey was going to be long and hard.

She was pulled from her discouraging thoughts by Thorin.

"Our business is no concern of elves." His tone was casual but his words held steel that made her cringe. One day she would like to hear the story behind Thorin furious dislike of elves for it seemed to run deeper than the disagreement held between two races. Maybe not from Thorin himself, for she was certain that would only result in a short snarled response and days upon days of silent treatment from not just him but the rest of the company (baring possibly the Broadbeams) too.

Gandalf let out a frustrated sigh as he ground out in a barely calm voice.

"For goodness sake, Thorin, show him the map."

Thorin expression became one of stone, his back straight and his eyes flashing with defiance.

"It is the legacy of my people, it is mine to protect." Bilbo rolled her eyes at the sheer stubbornness of the dwarf, "as are it secrets."

 _Farewell quest_ , Bilbo thought in exasperation. _You will never be fulfilled because you king is a stubborn arse!_

"Save me from the stubbornness of dwarves." Gandalf groused, "Your pride will be your downfall. You stand here in the presence of one of the few in Middle Earth who can read that map. Show it to Lord Elrond!"

Bilbo watched Thorin who was staring at Lord Elrond with the same stone-y unreadable expression he usually sent her way when she was being… well any time really, whenever she did anything that caught his attention.

It felt like an age – and maybe it was her imagination but for a brief second Thorin's gaze broke from Lord Elrond to flicker in her direction. But that could only be her imagination, for why would Thorin…? - before Thorin's hand moved under his coat with withdrew the ancient map from within with great reluctance.

Bilbo released as small sigh of relief even though Balin looked panicked when he too saw what Thorin was doing.

"Thorin," Balin caught his arm, his eyes wide and worried, "no!"

But Thorin waved him off, stepping forwarded towards Lord Elrond the map held protectively in his grasp.

Bilbo watched as Lord Elrond to the map from Thorin, opening the map with care and respect. His eyes scanned the paper briefly before his gaze lifted to rest once more upon Thorin.

"Erebor." His tone was almost disapproving, and there might have even been a worried glint to his ancient eyes, "What is your interest in this map?" The question almost sounded like a test and one, Bilbo thought as she looked at Thorin's face, at his expression which had turned as close to one of panic that she had ever seen and she had seen him tied up in a sack, moments away from being eaten by Trolls and he hadn't looked as worried as he did at this very moment, that Thorin was going to fail if he didn't…

"It's mainly academic." Gandalf stepped gracefully into the conversation as if Lord Elrond's question had been directed to him from the start, "As you know, this sort of artifact sometimes contains hidden text. You still read ancient dwarvish, do you not?

Lord Elrond's attention immediately returned to the map, walking to stand in the centre of where a moonlight beam glowed into his study, holding the map up against the light, whispering soft words of elvish. Bilbo immediately blushed when both Thorin and Balin's looked at her expectantly

"Moon runes." She said in the same breath as Gandalf, though while he sounded almost delighted she was simply left confused. What-what were moon runes?

She looked at Gandalf desperate to ask him, especially when he sent her a small smile as he admitted they were an easy thing to miss.

Because they can only be seen in moonlight? She wanted to ask him desperately. But-but that didn't make any sense as she had seen Thorin and Balin poring over that map plenty of times, at night with the moon over ahead and they hadn't mention there being any new runes that hadn't been there in the daytime!

"… by the light of a moon the same shape and season as the day on which they were written." She heard Lord Elrond saying, pulling her from her own whirling thoughts.

 _That's very… specific_ , she thought with a slight frown. _And a little ridiculous_. She guessed the dwarves who created this map really didn't want anyone using their secret door. Including, it seemed, their own king.

"Can you read them?" She heard Thorin ask Lord Elrond and had to forcibly stop herself from squeaking out 'you _can't_?'

Just how difficult was ancient dwarvish to read then?

Bilbo's head spun a little at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation they had found themselves in. What would they have done if they hadn't come to Rivendell?

"Bilbo." Gandalf voice broke through her swirling thoughts and she followed numbly after the rest of them as they left Elrond's study.

Elrond led them out onto a cliff in the mountain side, massive waterfalls thundering all around them. At the edge of the cliff, stood a rock that glowed with an almost unearthly light as the moon hit it that Bilbo found herself wondering if it was not fragment of a fallen star that had come to earth a millennia ago.

She stood awkwardly near the doorway of the cliff, unwilling to move any further forward for fear of falling off the edge of the cliff.

"These runes were written on a Midsummer's Eve by the light of a crescent moon nearly two hundred years ago. It would seem you were meant to come to Rivendell." She could hear Lord Elrond saying as he gently laid the map out upon the glowing white rock, "Fate is with you, Thorin Oakenshield; the same moon shines upon us tonight."

 _Really?_ Bilbo caught herself thinking as she stared somewhat sceptically at the elf lord's back. She had never been a particularly big believer in things such as fate or destiny. _Is that really true or are you just saying that because you know the moment he thinks he can do things his way we'll be disappearing into the night as faster as dwarvenly possible._

Though she did have to say she was more than a little impressed when, having built up her courage enough to creep to Gandalf side, the white rock seemed to shine as brightly as the moon itself and glowing blue runes suddenly started to etch themselves upon the map.

In a clear voice, Lord Elrond read, " _Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole_ "

"Durin's Day?" Bilbo heard herself asking. And even though she wasn't excepting a response, Gandalf was quick to answer her.

"It is the start of the dwarves' new year, when the last moon of autumn and the first sun of winter appear in the sky together."

"This is ill news." She looked over at Thorin whose face was once more twisted with worry and she felt her heart ache for him, "Summer is passing. Durin's Day will soon be upon us."

"We still have time." Balin was quick to reassure

"Time? For what?" The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it. But instead of being ignored or shot a hard look from Thorin, Balin answered her without hesitation.

"To find the entrance. We have to be standing at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time. Then, and only then, can the door be opened."

 _Wonderful_ , Bilbo thought with a heavy sigh, _just wonderful… so now they had a dead line to add to the mix of dragons and other unspeakable dangers ahead of them._

"So this is your purpose," Bilbo jumped at the hardness in Lord Elrond's voice, "to enter the Mountain."

Thorin turned to him with customary scowl.

"What of it?"

"There are some who would not deem it wise." Lord Elrond warned with the same hard tone as held out the map for Thorin to take. Bilbo fought back a groan as the dwarf king all but snatched the map back.

"Who do you mean?" Gandalf asked with a confused frown.

Elrond's warning looked turned to Gandalf as he replied, "You are not the only guardian to stand watch over Middle earth."

Bilbo watched in silence as the elf lord made to leave before a thought trickled into her head and burst from her.

"Wait!" She blushed heavily when all eyes turned upon her. She clutched her book tightly to her chest and took a deep steading breath to try and calm herself and to get her thoughts in order.

"Lord Elrond, what you read from the map, the message for finding the secret door," She heard grumbles from the dwarves but pressed on anyway, "will that message remain now, or will it disappear?"

Lord Elrond stared at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable and she wondered if he would simply leave without answering her.

"It will disappear." He answered her finally.

"Then," she all but shoved her book at Balin to take, while she searched her coat pocket for her tiny notebook and a pencil, "could you say it all again, so I might write it down."

"Halfling…" Thorin grumbled.

"Are you going to remember all that about grey stones and thrush knocking, setting suns shining upon key holes? Months from now?" When the dwarf king could only huff back at her, she looked back at Lord Elrond, her little notebook open and pencil ready. "If you wouldn't mind, that is?" She blushed when she remembered exactly who she was talking to. And again, she thought he might not answer her – which if that was the case she was certain she remembered enough of it to write it down, but still, if she got anything wrong – but once again he surprised her and from the flash in his eyes, himself, when he recited the message for finding the secret door back to her. Slowly and clearly, allowing for her write it all down neatly in her notebook.

"Thank you very much." She smiled gratefully up at the elf who inclined his head before leaving the cliff side with a sweep of his cloak.

"Well done Bilbo." Gandalf said as he lay an hand upon her shoulder as she showed him that she had indeed written down word for word the riddle to finding the secret door. "Quite clever indeed."

"Ah, well, I just… I have a good memory for riddles and such but I would have struggled to remember that," she pointed to the map clasped in Thorin's hand, "and since it will be gone again by morning, it only seemed logical to write it down." She shrugged before looking worriedly at Thorin and Balin, "Was that… wrong though?"

"Didn't stop you earlier." Thorin commented as he tucked the map back into his coat.

Bilbo blushed.

"He was leaving! And I thought – I thought…"

"You did right lassie." Balin smiled at her reassuringly, "asking again and writing it down as you did. Clever."

"You," she held out at her little notebook to the two dwarves to take if they were feeling truly paranoid about her possessing something so huge as the riddle to the secret door, "you can keep if you want, I mean, I just…"

"It's alright lass," Balin said as the four of them left the cliff, "you keep your little notebook, we trust you."

 _Do you?_ Bilbo desperately wanted to ask but bit down hard upon her tongue to stop herself.

The soft grunt Thorin made from Balin's other side did not help her anxiety over matter either.

Gandalf led them back to the rooms the company was using, sighing heavily when he surveyed the destruction the dwarves had inflicted, before leaving for, Bilbo was guessing, his own private rooms.

 _Lucky_ , Bilbo thought glumly as she walked after Thorin and Balin who were almost immediately questioned about what had happened the moment the door was closed.

Bilbo fell gracelessly upon her bedding and stared up at the ceiling as her brain rolled over the stupid secret door riddle

 _Stand by the gray stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole_

"Do you think we actually have to wait for the thrush to knock on the secret door? Or is that part of the message some kind of metaphor? And if it is, what's the metaphor?" Bilbo asked out loud to the silence of the night where everyone but Gloin (who was on watch-duty) was sleeping.

Something solid, a pair of rolled up socks she thinks, thudded to ground just next to her leg.

"Missed me." She commented a little sardonically as she sat up in the darkness, "but in all seriousness, how do we convince a thrush to knock against a grey stone – which this is a mountain, so I'm imagining there are quite a few grey stones to choose from, so how do we know it's the right one? – while the sun is setting, which will somehow lead to the reveal of the keyhole."

She was met with a series of groans.

"Bilbo, it's tha' middle of the bloody night." Bofur grumbled from where he lay a few feet from her.

"Yes and I can't sleep because that stupid message on the map makes no sense, as a riddle or logically." Bilbo huffed, as she hopped to her feet

"I'm sure when the time comes," Balin said in a patient albeit very sleepy voice, "it will all make sense."

" _Nooo_ ," Bilbo shook her head, feeling the familiar stir of panic build within her gut, "that's leaving far too much to chance!"

"Halfling," Thorin's tone was quiet but held a hint of finality in it, "the message on the map is meant to be understood by dwarves alone, not outsiders. Put it out of your mind."

 _You don't have a bloody clue what it means either, you insufferable sod!_ Bilbo grumbled angrily as she flopped back down upon her bedding.

She lay there stewing for several long quiet moments where the only sound in the room was the sounds of snoring.

"I wonder if we have to catch the thrush." She mused, grinning at the mental image of dwarves chasing birds all of the mountain side.

"Halfling…"

"Bilbo!"

"I was just wondering." Bilbo defended all the while choking back a laugh.

"Halfling," Thorin snapped, "you can relieve Gloin of his watch if you are having so much trouble sleeping."

"Fine," Bilbo huffed, snatching up one of her books and went and sat in spot by the balcony that Gloin had just vacated to her with an exasperated look, "I need to brush up on my Silvan anyway."

"You do that." Thorin grumbled back at her.

"See that I do." She retorted tartly as she cracked the book open.

"I don't want to see or hear you, I want to sleep!"

"How can you possibly sleep," Bilbo choked out in disbelief, "when instead of answering our questions, the map only created more?!"

"I…"

"Oh for the love of… Enough!" Dwalin barked from where he "sleeping" on the other side of the room.

Bilbo's shoulders immediately jumped to her ears and a surge of embarrassment and regret shot through her.

"Sorry." She squeaked.

Thorin of course didn't apologize but he didn't say anything more either and room fell silent and it took a long, long time for it to be filled with the sounds of snores and other sleeping noises.

Bilbo had settled into her book on the development of different elvish dialect when she heard movement from nearby. Her head snapped upwards immediately, only to immediately drop again when she saw that it was only Thorin making his way to the balcony

After a moment or two, he was sitting on the other side of the doorframe she was leaning against, the map pulled out and sitting on his lap.

"Is the writing gone?" she couldn't help but ask.

Thorin only nodded, his finger running over the spot that they had appeared.

"Are you certain you have it all written down," He asked after a long moment of heavy silence, "word for word?"

"Ah, yes, um I do believe so." she rummaged in her pocket and pulled out her little notebook and after a moment of hesitation, she gently threw it at him. He caught it with ease, though his large fingers struggled a little with the tiny book.

"You could not have written it down in your sketch book?" Thorin grunted once he finally had the little book open.

"I'll make sure I do that first thing in the morning. How does that sound?" She asked a little dryly. Thorin looked up at her with a flashing eyes.

"See that you do."

"You shall."

They glared at each other. And then looked away at the same moment. Bilbo returned to her book while Thorin simply sat alternate between looking at his map and her little notebook to staring out the balcony at the valley.

Bilbo wasn't sure when exactly she fell asleep only that when she woke, all the dwarves were awake and making noises about breakfast and she was covered with a blanket that she was fairly certain she hadn't brought with her when she had been delegated watch duty… which she had fallen asleep doing.

Ah…

She looked fugitively around for Thorin, wondering all the while just how much trouble she was in. Only when she spotted him, and he noticed her looking at him, there was no more annoyance in his piecing blue gaze than normal, though he did look even tireder than he had yesterday morning and if anything that made her feel worse.

She got up slowly, picking up her blanket, book and her little notebook – which had been placed by her side but she wasn't silly enough to think that when Thorin put the little book back he had also placed a blanket over her – and made for the rest of her belonging.

It didn't take her long to write out the map's message neatly into her sketchbook before she tore out the page and, chewing heavily upon the inside of her cheek, she handed it to Thorin before they left the room for breakfast.

She blushed hotly when all the dwarves stopped their conversations to watch her do this, maybe waiting for Thorin to chew her out over keeping them all awake with her inane questions, but he did not such thing. He took the paper from her, scanned it over and then with a nod to her, he tucked the paper into the pocket in his coat that she was certain held the map.

Something inside of her chest glowed stupidly warm when she saw him do this.

 _Stop that_ , she scolded herself as she fell back in the ranks of dwarves, to the far back to walk with the Broadbeams, _it means nothing! Get that silly notion that it does out of your head – and heart – this instance!_

But even so, the glow of warmth remained all through breakfast and did not disappear even when they had returned to their rooms and the dwarves were doing their own thing that she wasn't included in, the warmth remained.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As I said in my Author's note at the beginning of this chapter I had a lot of fun writing various sections of this chapter. The Bilbo being sassy with the dwarves (and Thorin) are obvious favourites, along with Bilbo being sassy in general. Or at least, I think she's being sassy. I'm not generally a very sassy or quick-witted person in every day conversation - a lot of jokes or puns go right over my head because my brain just doesn't click until well after the conversation has moved on - but with writing, you can keep coming back and tweaking it until it's just right, so hopefully she comes off as being witty and/or smart.  
Bilbo's relationship with the dwarves is coming to a turning point, she is more or less accepted by the company now, though she is still seen as more of a hindrance than anything else, but most of the dwarves do generally like her. Her relationship with Thorin is also going to start building from this point on-wards, they're going to have more scenes together though keeping in mind this is a slow burn, so them being in love with each is still a little ways away, but Bilbo's crush is still very much there and Thorin... well, Thorin is being Thorin and I have a one-shot that I'm thinking of posting very soon to explain why Thorin (and the rest of the dwarves) are treating Bilbo the way they currently are. There is a reason for why they are being so stand-off-ish with her. But I'll go more into that in the one-shot that i will be posting.

Thank you very much for reading. I hope you enjoyed and as always, reviews are appreciated even if is something as simple as 'please update'. It does motivate me to write. Thanks :)


	10. Let us be the ones to choose the ending

**Chapter 10**

 **Let Us be the Ones to Choose the Ending to Our Story  
**

In years to come, Bilbo would look back upon her days spent in Rivendell as something out of a wonderful dream.

When she wasn't curled up in her armchair – and it was undeniably hers by the second night and any dwarf who made even the slightest hint of destroying it was quickly threaten with a book to their head. She was incredibly grateful that no dwarf so far had decided to call her out on her bluff – reading one of the many books she was continually borrowing from the magnificent library, she was gleefully exploring Rivendell and the valley surrounding the beautiful city.

Sometimes, she would be able to coax a dwarf or three to join her in her exploration – the Broadbeam cousins were more often to join her than not. And sometimes, she could even convince the younger dwarves too if they felt they could sneak away from the watchful eyes of older brothers and grumpy uncles. – of the city.

Hilarity with an equal dose of embarrassment usually ensued with each venture, with her and Fili frequently scrambling to smooth over whatever misunderstanding had occurred between their companions and the elf they had come across. Fili, Bilbo discovered with a small amount of surprise was quite the diplomate and didn't seem to bear the same grudge his uncle harboured so furiously against the elves.

The boy was still not fond of elves – not like his younger brother whom Bilbo had watched on multiple occasions, with scandalous, amused making googly-eyes at elves (male, female, it seemed to make no difference to the young dwarf) when he thought none of their companions were watching – but he didn't seem to be allowing his distrust of them cloud his attitude towards them. When he interacted with an elf, he spoke with the attitude that Bilbo recognised from her childhood. It had been one of her mother's many lessons, which was; speak how you wish to spoken to.

 _He will be a good king… when the time comes_ ; she found herself thinking on several occasions when he had successfully defused an awkward or potentially nasty situation between the elves and his fellow dwarves. And she knew she wasn't the only one who thought so too. She had seen Thorin look at his heir with a pleased expression after every situation the boy defused despite his grumbles that diplomacy was wasted on elves.

But most of the time, she explored the valley by herself while the dwarves remained in the rooms that they had been assigned.

Sometimes she would meet up with Elora, the lovely elf-maiden who had been so helpful and kind to her on their first evening in Rivendell, and who was now generously obliging Bilbo's request to be taught more elvish, in particular, Silvan.

She had also been the elf who had informed Bilbo and the rest of the dwarves of the fact that their ponies – whom Bilbo had feared the worst for and had spent a night quietly grieving for them – had been found and brought to Rivendell.

Bilbo had had to press her hand to her mouth to keep her from squealing too loudly in delight. Not that that had helped in anyway. She had still be teased, but at least now, the teasing was in good-natured sort of fashion.

And when they had all gone down to the stable where the ponies were being housed in, and happy tears had started rolling down her cheeks, not a word, teasing or chiding had been spoken in her direction as she hugged Myrtle neck, while the pony snuffled her hair fondly.

Long gone were the days that she had been afraid of the darling four-legged creature. Sadly, however, could not be said for her allergies; and within moments she crying and sneezing all over her poor, long-suffering pony's neck.

 **HiBtWH**

They had been in Rivendell for about a week now and while the dwarves grew more restless with each passing day, Bilbo instead found herself becoming more settled. Rivendell suited her in ways even the Shire hadn't. And with each passing day, the desire to accept Lord Elrond's offer to stay in Rivendell grew stronger and stronger.

Bilbo cracked her neck from where she was curled up in her armchair, the book she had been reading hanging limply in between her fingers as she stared out the balcony doorway at the pretty night beyond.

She felt something almost akin to a call in the air for her to take an evening stroll, like she would have done so if she had been home in the Shire.

She glanced over to the dwarves who, despite only having had dinner a little while, appeared to be fixing themselves a very nice looking supper of sausages and roast tomatoes that they were cooking over a fire… built from elvish furniture.

She shook her head, before stretching her arms weary arms above her head, her mind already drifting over where she might take her late-evening stroll around the valley.

She waved the dwarves off when they saw her up and about and when they asked if she wanted one of the sausages they had already cooked up (Nori even went so far as waving the plate of beautifully cooks sausages under her nose. It had been hard to resist, she was a hobbit after all and very fond of her fond, but the call upon the night air was stronger than her hobbit's appetite. A considerable thing indeed)

She had laughed with a smile, thanking them for their kind offer before telling them she was going out for some fresh air – it spoke volumes of how far they had come in just under a week that not one of the dwarves tried to stop her.

Not that they would have been able stopped her if they had tried to, she had spent most of her day reading and her head was feeling a little overwhelmed with the knowledge she was trying to make it absorb in such a small space of time and she needed some fresh air to relax her exhausted mind.

She moved easily down the paths of the elvish city, not the least bit afraid to be walking at night in a place other than the Shire.

The cool blue light of the lamps that hung from the trees looked like small earth bound stars, casting an almost unearthly glow upon the path.

She came to a balcony that had a wonderful view of several of the valley's great waterfalls. She leant against the stone wall, her head coming to rest upon her folded arms as she stared out over the valley.

How had her mother ever found the strength to leave this beautiful place?

She was quite entranced by the view that when she heard Gandalf's voice from somewhere nearby, she had jumped, looking guiltily about her, not quite sure why she felt so nervous about being caught out and about at night, like she was some fauntling out of bed hours after they were meant to be asleep.

She peered over the balcony and spot Gandalf, walking alongside Lord Elrond upon a walkway (with no railings!) towards a pavilion that stood proudly at top of two roaring waterfalls.

The wizard and the elf lord appeared to be having a heated discussion.

"Of course I was going to tell you," She could hear Gandalf speak hotly to Lord Elrond, "I was waiting for this very chance. And really, I –" and Bilbo thought he sounded rather put-out as he spoke, "I think you can trust that I know what I am doing."

"Do you?" Lord Elrond asked, sounding not so sure at all, "That dragon has slept for sixty years. What will happen if your plan should fail? If you wake that beast…"

"But," Gandalf cut him off quickly, his voice eager and determined, "But if we succeed! What if the dwarves take back the mountain, then our defences in the east will be strengthened."

 _Ah ha_! Bilbo thought as she sighed as she leant more heavily upon the railing.

She had had a feeling that there was more to Gandalf' plan than simply helping the dwarves get back their homeland. But… defence against what? Or who? If they get rid of the dragon – which again how were they going to do that? Why was there still no plans for how they were actually going to kill the beast?! – who would the dwarves be defending the east from?

"It's a dangerous move, Gandalf." She heard Lord Elrond say and frowned. Because of the dragon? Or something else?

Either way, she should probably not listen any further to this conversation; it was doing her no good except starting the nerves in her belly to twist anxiously into knots.

She turned to leave only to press a hand over her mouth to try and attempt to muffle her squeal when she saw that Thorin was standing by the stairs behind her.

When had he gotten there? And _how_ hadn't she heard him approach at all!

His blue eyes met hers and Bilbo found herself rooted awkwardly to the spot.

"It is also dangerous to do nothing!" She heard Gandalf state, sounding exasperated now, "Oh, come. The throne of Erebor is Thorin's birthright! What is it you fear?"

"Have you forgotten?" Elrond sound suddenly very old and tired, "a strain of madness runs deep in that family. His grandfather lost his mind." _Oh_ … she looked anxiously over her shoulder at Thorin, who was staring away, his eyes closed, his face twisted into a grimace of pain.

"His father succumbed to the same sickness." Elrond continued heavily, "Can you swear Thorin Oakenshield will not also fall?"

Bilbo scowled at that.

 _How… how dare he_! Her hands clenched into fists at her sides, trembling with anger.

She turned around to stare back at Thorin who was still wearing a pained expression as he stared out into the distance.

"He is wrong, you know." She said and Thorin looked back at her, his face now blank, his blue eyes unreadable, "to assume that you will fall to the same mind sicknesses as your father and grandfather."

"You know nothing." Thorin muttered harshly, looking away from her once more.

She felt her cheeks heat up as anger boiled within her.

"Now you're wrong and making assumptions." She snapped quietly, watching through stinging eyes as Thorin's head turned slowly back to her, "I _do_ know! Probably better than you think. My father…" She swallowed and clenched her fists all the more tightly, "my father has the mind sickness – maybe not the same kind of illness as suffered by your father and grandfather, but I..." She stared down at her feet, wondering if she should go on or simply walk away.

"I know what it's like to have people assume that you will end up just the same as your parents," she continued softly, lifting her head to stared into his face again, "I know the fear that in the end, you will."

Thorin stared at her, his eyes never leaving her face while she squirmed, for now that her anger had faded, she was left feeling uncomfortable under his heavy gaze.

She had only spoken a little about her dear papa, with Gandalf who had helped return her papa to his mind, and to the Broadbeams who had been the most curious of the dwarves when it came to her family, but it had been very little indeed. And she had not, not ever, breathed a whisper of her own fear, that she too might one day end up suffering from the same sickness of the mind as her father. How the fear would become so strong on some days that she felt she might suffocate from it.

"Let's go back to the others," she all but begged him, wanting nothing more than to end this awkward conversation so that her discomfit might start to ease and for his piecing blue eyes to stop trying to peer into her soul.

Thorin nodded his head slowly, gesturing for her to lead the way.

She moved quickly, though the stairs that they had to climb down slowed her down greatly for they had been made for legs much longer than her own.

"How long?" Thorin asked suddenly, now walking at her side.

"Hmm, what?" Bilbo's head snapped in his direction.

"How long has your father suffered from his mind sickness."

"Um, for about ten or so years now, ever since my mother… since before she died." Bilbo looked away from him and instead stared up at the beautiful structures of Rivendell.

"She was dying," She mumbled, feeling the familiar tearing pain in her chest as she spoke of the one person she had admired and loved most in all of Middle-Earth, "and it-it was, um, slow and he just… he couldn't cope. And when she did finally pass, he all but died with her. He was alive but… he wasn't – he wasn't with us anymore. Sometimes, he'd come back, but… but only for a while," she bit her lip, "never for very long." She swallowed, blinking back tears.

"He's still lives?"

"Yes, um, yes he's still lives. Gandalf… I don't know what he did but he did something and Papa's mind seemed to come back to him. He isn't… I mean, he didn't become the Papa of my childhood or the Papa from the days before Mama grew ill, but…" she smiled a little hopeful smile back at him, "he was himself, or as close as to himself as he could be after so many years trapped inside his head. I never," she took a deep breath, "I never would have left if he wasn't." she wrapped her arms tighter around herself, feeling suddenly cold and heart-sick.

"You worry for him still?" Thorin asked softly, with a surprising amount of gentleness to his tone she wasn't used to.

"He's my Papa, and I've been taking care of him for ten years, and… and now I've up and left him with no way of knowing if I shall return." She stared down at her feet, suddenly remembering who she was talking to, her cheeks warming in embarrassment.

She hugged her arms closer around herself as they continued to walk.

"That's why you were so hesitant to come along." Thorin mused after several long moments of silence. His expression was strangely thoughtful, as if he had finally found the solution to a riddle that had long bothered him.

"Hmm, mostly." No need to mention the wedding she had run away from.

"And then you changed your mind when Gandalf…"

"It sounds terrible, believe me I know." She interrupted him with wild eyes, "that I just up and left him when he had just regained his mind, but… he told me to go! He wanted me to come along. He knew how unhappy I was. Even when he was trapped inside his own mind, he knew I was unhappy with life in the Shire and he told me to come…" she stared out over the beautiful valley with a sicken heart, the guilt gnawing away at her.

"He wanted you to live your life, the life of your own choosing." Thorin offered his deep voice sounding even kinder than before, a hint of understanding laced within it too.

"Yes." She mumbled with a heavy, aching heart.

She turned to stare up at the kingly dwarf who stared right back at her and for once, his stare did not make her feel small.

"Come," He said finally breaking eye contact, his ears tinged slightly pink, his voice returning to its normal kingly tone of superiority, "we must return to the others. It well past the time that we should have left this place."

" _What_?" Bilbo squeaked, trotting to catch up with his longer strider.

"We're leaving." Thorin repeated, not looking at her now.

"I heard as much." She responded tartly, "but why all of a sudden? I thought we were right to spend a few more days here."

"If you wish to stay, you are more than welcome to." His pace seemed to increase, his hands clenched into fists at his side. She huffed in indignation as she tried to keep up with his sped-up pace.

 _He's doing this on purpose_! she thought furiously to herself as her trot was forced to move up to a jog.

"Oh, you would like that wouldn't you?" She retorted acidly, though a little breathless too, "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that is not the hobbit lass I am! I keep my promises. I signed that bloody contract! I will see this venture through to the bitter end, just you watch me!" She stomped angrily past him before realising the majestic idiot had taken them down an entirely wrong corridor on the way back to their rooms.

"I don't know if you did this on purpose to be annoying or your sense of direction is truly that terrible!" She fumed, scowling up at the tall dwarf.

"My sense of direction is just fine." Thorin snapped back, though Bilbo noticed a certain redness to his ears.

"Oh well then you wouldn't mind leading us back to our rooms then!" Bilbo shot back hotly, before deciding that this was truly a ridiculous argument to be having in the last homely house east of the sea, so with a burning face she caught hold of his shirt sleeve and started dragging him – though not really because if Thorin hadn't wished to move, he certainly would not have done so – in the right direction to the guest rooms.

She had been sorely tempted to kick the door to their rooms open but once more decided against such foolishness and opened the door as a normal sensible being. The fact that she stomped into the room was another matter entirely.

"There ya are!" Bofur yelled in greeting along with several other dwarves, "Wonder where ya had gotten to."

There was a slight pause as the company took in the sour expressions of both their leader and burglar.

Bifur edged closer to Bilbo's side, his weather-beaten hand plucking anxiously at her shirt, worry dancing in his wild eyes.

"We're leaving." Thorin growled and immediately Dwalin, Gloin and Fili (who kicked his brother in the thigh to get him moving) were on their feet, getting their things together.

"Wha? Now?" Bofur choked, "Near middle of the bloody night mate!"

"Before first light," Thorin ground out, his expression frustrated, but there might have been a hint of anxiety to his expression too, "we will take our leave of this place." He shot Bilbo a hard look, a question evident in his dark blue eyes.

Bilbo threw up her hands in exasperation before marching over to her armchair, to where the stake of books she had yet to read still stood.

She stared at the books longingly before turning her attention to making sure her backpack, along with her new elven made cloak (a gift for Elora when she had return Bilbo's launder clothes and she had found out Bilbo was travelling without one), were all neatly packed with her little blade and walking stick probed against them.

"Just nick 'em." Nori said suddenly, obviously noticing the numerous times Bilbo's eyes drifted sadly back to the books.

"Oh, because that wouldn't be at all rude. Thank you so much for your kind hospitality, by the by, I've taken several of your books that are probably over several hundred years of age and cost a small fortune. Cheers." Bilbo said dryly, rolling her eyes at the pointy haired dwarf who laughed.

"There ya have it!" he chortled. Bilbo only shook her head at his antics and tried to ignore the pang in her chest over the books she would not now read.

Once she was packed, she settled herself down to try and get herself a few hours of sleep before they started moving as dawn's light just started touching the world.

She was gently shaken awake after what felt like only seconds of her closing her eyes to sleep. She peered blearily up at Bifur, grumbling a sleepy 'good morning' to the gentle dwarf.

With her new cloak thrown around her shoulders, her pack on her back, walking stick in hand and her little blade hanging at her waist, she was surprisingly the first one ready after Thorin and Dwalin, who like her had packed their things the night before in preparation for an early start.

Bilbo found herself grateful that she had made that decision because she certainly did not want the black look Thorin was shooting at various members of the company now being directed at her.

They still left their rooms well before daybreak, Bilbo's keen ears listening closely for any sounds of movement other than their own.

She was surprised when Thorin had her lead the party out of Rivendell, but as he pointed out gruffly, she had spent most of her time that she hadn't been reading wandering the valley, so it would only make sense that she would know where the way out might be.

It was a slightly backhanded compliment but she took it all the same and couldn't stop the surge of pride that had course through her as she led them successfully to the path that would lead them out of the valley to the wild world ahead. From there Balin took the lead with a wide smile as he pattered her back as he passed her on the narrow path.

She fell to her usual place near the back of the company, walking alongside Bofur, Bifur and Bombur, who aside from Bifur who seemed as alert as ever, were yawning and grumbling about the hour.

It was when they reached the top of path and they could view the whole valley, now lit gold with early dawn light, did Bilbo look back with small ache of longing.

"Master Baggins." Bilbo jumped when she heard Thorin call back to her. She looked away from the valley with a struggle to stare up at him. His expression was once more unreadable. "I suggest you keep up."

Bilbo bristled at his words, she'd show him! She'd show them all! She might never have ridden a pony before but she had walked the length of the Shire numerous times over and was considered to be quite fit for a hobbit.

She'd show them all exactly what a hobbit could do.

* * *

 **26/03/2018 Author's Note:** I struggled... a lot with this chapter. Apparently I love Rivendell a little too much and I just wrote too much without actually advancing the plot. So the beginning of this chapter got a whole re-write, though everything with Bilbo and Thorin has pretty much remained the same from when I wrote their part in August last year (I wrote a lot of bits and pieces of this fic in August last year. It's going to be fun threading them all in later).

Even though this chapter did have a number of rewrites, I really do like the Bilbo/Thorin scene. I've never really written something where I'm trying establish a relationship that will eventually lead to romance (and it will, I promise, it will. Frodo does exist in this universe) and writing Bilbo and Thorin's early awkward 'i like you but i don't want to/don't know how to admit it' stage is turning out to be kind of fun. I admit, I may be drawing from pretty much every adaption of Mr Darcy in existence when writing for Thorin and his early interactions with Bilbo. Mr Darcy!Thorin is a fun Thorin to write and Bilbo is just... so confused, so confused by him. But all that will be way later down the road, at the moment they're just beginning to connect.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are appreciated and loved. Thanks for reading.


	11. Over Hill and Under Hill

**15/04/2018 Author's Note:** Hi dear readers. Sorry for the delay with this chapter. I experienced a lot of issues with writing this chapter, the flow - as I have said previously about writing chapters that involve traveling - just wasn't right, so this chapter got a lot of re-writes. Until yesterday I just decided to take all the traveling bits out, re-wrote the whole chapter we've us just jumping straight into the Thunder Battle and all the fun that entails. I probably will post all the parts that I have cut out of this fic as like a deleted scenes/extended scenes one-shots fanfic, because the scenes I cut, I really did like, they just didn't flow right with the story.

Anyway, I will leave you to read and hopefully enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

 **Over Hill and Under Hill**

There were many paths that led up into the Misty Mountains. But many of those paths were liars, ready and willing to lead weary travels to their dooms, leading to nowhere or to sudden drops while others led to foul evil things that would eat up a traveller without a second thought.

But the company were far luckier than most travellers who traversed the Misty Mountains. For one thing they had a wizard at their side who led the company along paths that would lead them true. The other was that this was a company made up majorly by dwarves and mountains were their domain.

Yes, they might be traveling over and not under the mountain, but rock and stone was in their blood and bones and they knew better than most how to read a mountain's temper towards those who dared to travel its natural paths.

When Gandalf failed to see a danger upon the paths they travelled, a dwarf (or several) were quick to point it out and disaster was avoided swiftly and without incident.

In fact if weren't for Bilbo – who found out rather quickly that she detested being surrounded by so much rock and sheer drops – tripping over loose stones and panicking over particularly small ledges with very large drops, those first few days could have almost been called uneventful.

That is until a massive thunderstorm rolled blackly over their head, pouring down rain so heavy down upon them that they were soaked to the bone in moments. The path beneath their feet became all the more treacherous as the rocks became as slippering as eels, threatening to send even the surest footed plummeting to their death into the deep valley that lay out below them on one side.

Never before had Bilbo seen a storm quite so large as the one she was experiencing now, with the rain drops pouring down from the heavens, huge and icy, bitting painfully into her bare hands and cheeks. The wind howled so loudly and with such strength Bilbo was certain that she was only moments away from being blown from the narrow ledge she and the company were moving oh so slowly upon.

"Come on lassie!" Bofur somehow managed to roar over the wind from where he was inching along just in front of her, "Just a bit further."

"You said that half an hour ago!" Bilbo cried back and was almost drowned from the amount of rain that flooded her mouth as she spoke.

She thought she heard Bofur laugh but he might have been sneezing for all she knew. She did not dwell long upon it though, for the next moment, the rocks beneath her feet were giving way and she was suddenly falling. She barely had time to scream.

Her hands clawed out helpless at the mountain, to try and grab onto something when she, just as suddenly as she had started falling, she stopped.

"Gotcha!" She heard Dwalin roar over the rain and wind as he and Bofur pulled her back up onto the mountain path before Dwalin shoved her straight into Bofur arms. She gave a tiny sob, tears mixing with the rain upon her cheeks as she buried her face into Bofur's collar.

"Yer a'right!" Bofur said soothingly into her ear, stroking her sopping wet hair, "Yer a'right. We got ya."

Bilbo pulled back with a sniff, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand. She gave Bofur a tiny, wet smile, when she suddenly felt herself being shoved once more into Bofur's chest.

"Watch out!" She heard Dwalin roaring from behind her before his voice was drowned out by her own frighten scream as the mountain itself appeared to shudder and move, with shards of rocks thumping against her back despite Bofur's best efforts to shield her body with his.

"What's happening?" She screamed, clutching tightly onto Bofur as she blinked in the darkness and rain to try and see what awful thing was happening now.

She could hear Balin yelling something as lightning flashed fiercely against the storm dark sky, her mouth dropping as the lightning lit up huge moving shapes, highlighting flying boulders as they hurtle threw the air before smashing with an almighty crash behind them.

"Well bless me!" Bofur yelled from her side, his hand wrapped tightly around her arm, "The legends are true. Giants! Stone Giants!"

 _Stone Giants? But-but they were only myths! They weren't real… were they?_

"Come on Bilbo!" Bofur tugged her along, his hand moving from her arm to taking hold of her hand, their fingers interweaving.

"Don't let me fall." She squeaked in terror, her other hand trailing uselessly against the rock face as she stumbled along the mountain ledge after Bofur.

"I won't." He promised and squeezed her fingers.

"WAIT!"

She smacked nose first into Bofur's back as he came to an abrupt stop as suddenly the ledge that they had been standing upon started moving, heaving forward and then upwards.

"Brace yourselves!" Dwalin roared near her ear and Bilbo found herself being shoved backwards against the mountain face by Bofur, his arm pressed against her stomach as the ledge they were standing upon continued to move.

 _We're on the knees of a giant_ , Bilbo thought as her own knees wobbled with fear.

She squeezed her eyes shut once more, unable to bear watching the battle that was being fought around them. The fight that they were involved in because they were standing upon a giant's _knee_!

Her stomach plummeted to her toes when suddenly she found herself falling forward, despite Bofur's best attempts to keep her braced against the rock face at their back.

Her eyes flew open and a scream barely passed her lips as that they were falling face first into the side of the mountain.

Her eyes shut without thought as the first loud crunch of rock upon rock cracked above her head, shards of broken stone raining down upon her. Her body hit solid rock, winding her so badly that she barely registered that she was slipping; slipping over the edge of whatever ledge the company had fallen upon.

Her hands clawed out at the slippery rocks as she hung helpless over the edge.

"Bofur!" She screamed as she felt the Stone Giant collapse all around her. Her feet kicked helplessly at the solid rock of the mountain side, unable to find any foot holds to help her climb back up.

She let out a small sob, the muscles in her fingers spasming painfully as she clung desperately upon the mountain face, trying vainly to pull herself back up.

"Come on!" She sobbed.

 _Not like this, please, not like this!_

"Bilbo?!" She could hear Bofur, dear sweet Bofur calling for her, his voice panicked.

"Down-down here!" Bilbo shrieked.

"Bilbo?!" Ori was suddenly hanging over the edge, his hand outstretched towards her. She had slipped further than she had first realised.

"She's here!" Ori was calling over his shoulder and suddenly Bofur head was appearing over the edge too, his hand joining Ori's as they both reached down to her.

"C'mon lassie!" Bofur shouted, leaning as far over the ledge as far as he dared, putting himself in danger of falling over himself if he wasn't careful. "Take our hands."

She did try. She tried with all her might to grab one of the two hands held out to her, but every time she made to let go of the rock she was holding onto for dear life, it felt as if an invisible force was trying to drag her body down into the abyss below. All of her strength was going into keeping herself from falling.

"THORIN!" She heard Dwalin roar and several other dwarves bellow from above but before she had time to ponder on what might have happened to their majestic leader, a strong arm was wrapping itself around her waist and shoving her upwards into the waiting hands of Bofur and Ori who snatched her up under the arms and dragged her the rest of the way to safety.

She heard Dwalin yell for Thorin again, and watch from the protective embrace of Bofur's arms as Dwalin flung himself forward, catching hold of a sturdy rock as he pulled Thorin back onto the ledge near to where she was.

Thorin… he-he saved her?

And she… she almost got him killed in return…

Dwalin, laughing a relieved laugh as he slapped Thorin on the back, turned back to her with a fond exasperated look.

"I thought we'd lost our burglar." The huge dwarf snorted, ruffling her wet curls with a large powerful hand.

"She's been lost," Thorin said, chest heaving as he stared down at her from where she was still wrapped in Bofur's arms, his hot gaze burning into her very soul, "ever since she left home. She should never have come." He looked away from her then, his scowl turn out to the rest of the world, "She has no place among us."

It was like he had shoved his hand right into her chest and pulled out her very heart, the pain within her was that great. Rivalling, like nothing had ever done so before, the agony she had experienced the day her mother had died and she had truly lost her father to his mind-sickness. It was raw and brutal and all she wanted was to curl up into a tight ball and let the darkness swallow her whole.

She jerked away from the gentle touch upon her face, blinking at Bofur who was watching her with such sad brown eyes that she aches, despite her own raw pain, to make him smile. His was a face that was not meant to be filled with woe.

He gently wiped away tears that she had not realised were rolling down her cheeks with his thumb before he was pulling her once again to her feet, keeping a tight grasp upon her hand.

She followed dutifully after him, feeling numb all over.

From cold? Or her near-death experience? – How many was that now? Two? Three? – Or was it from Thorin's harsh words? He wasn't wrong though, he really wasn't. She _had_ been lost since leaving home and she-she certainly didn't belong among them

She sniffed back a new onslaught of tears, their saltiness mixing with the heavy rain still falling upon their heads.

She was pulled from her melancholy by the sounds of relieved yelling from the dwarves. She lifted her head slowly and saw that they appeared to be heading towards a cave. She brushed her sodden curls from her eyes. The cave appeared to not be very deep, but was a least wide enough to fit the company in comfortably, protecting them from the wind and rain

Dwalin, holding up a lantern, was kicking the back wall of the cave while Thorin looked on.

"There's nothing here." Dwalin was saying to Thorin as he gave the cave wall a final kick. Thorin still appeared to be hesitant, but after a moment or two of prologued silence he nodded and all around her, dwarves were groaning in relief as they dropped their heavy packs.

Bilbo stood awkwardly by the cave's entrance, anxiety stirring cruelly in her gut.

Why was she even here? Hadn't she proven over and over again that she was only a liability? What had Gandalf been thinking when he chose her as the company burglar?

 _Gandalf…_

Bilbo's heart juddered to a stop as her eyes desperately searched the cave, but even in the poor light of the lit lanterns held by Dwalin and Gloin, she counted only thirteen dwarves but no wizard.

 _Oh… no…_

"We've…" her voice was so small and weak that Bofur hadn't even been aware that she was speaking until he happened to glance in her direction and saw her trembling lips moving.

"We've lost our wizard again." She mumbled but Bofur only appeared to look at her in further confusion, his head moving closer to hers so as to possibly hear her better.

"Eh, Lass? What's that?"

"Gandalf's not here." She managed to speak just a little louder and immediately all movement in the cave stopped.

"What?" Thorin barked and Bilbo felt her heart rate increase a little as he stormed to stand at her side by the cave entrance so as to peer out into the raging storm.

Bilbo looked out too because as useless as she was, she still had the best eyes of the company.

She stood out just a little from the cave entrance, once more becoming instantly soaked by the downpour, her hand thrown over her eyes in an attempt to keep the rain out of them.

There was no sign of him in the blackness of the raging storm. She could only just make out the Stone Giants still fighting a little ways off, but no wizard.

Had he fallen during the Stone Giants' battle and they had not noticed? Had all energy been spent saving her only for them to have ultimately lost their most useful member of the company?

"See 'im?" Bofur roared over the wind and rain from where he stood beside her, hand wrapped tightly around her arm to keep her steady and not be blown away by the hurricane like winds.

"NO!" she yelled back and almost choked from a mouthful of rain water.

She allowed for herself to be pulled back into the cave by Bofur, shaking and fighting back a wave of worry, tiredness and tears.

"What if he fell?" She whimpered wretchedly.

"N'uh," Bofur said rubbing her arm soothingly, "he's a wizard, take more than a fall to finish him off."

"Gone on ahead again." Dwalin growled from nearby, scowling bitterly out of the cave entrance, "He chooses mighty fine moments to wander off."

"Com'on lass," Bofur pulled her to a section the cave furthest from the entrance, "time for sleep."

"Bofur," they both jumped at Thorin's call from where he still stood by the cave entrance, "take first watch."

Bofur opened and closed his mouth several times before simply rolling his eyes in Thorin's direction before ruffling her hair fondly as he handed her over to the safe keeping of his brother and cousin while he stomped over to sit by the cave entrance to start his watch. Though not before he caught the arm of Thorin and the two shared a heated conversation in whispered dwarvish.

Neither dwarf seemed to get any satisfaction from whatever had been said in the conversation, both looking as grouchy as the other while the rest of the company made a very obvious effort to get ready for bed.

In under five minutes, Bilbo found herself being the only one asides from Bofur, keeping watch, and Thorin, who had taken to glaring at the opposite cave wall as if it had committed a heinous crime against him, still sitting up and fully awake.

While dwarves appeared to be perfectly content with sleeping in wet clothes – though Bilbo had already learnt that the leather clothes they wore were remarkably water proof and dried quickly – Bilbo certainly was not. Or least, she refused to sleep with wet hair.

Her hair took a ridiculously long time to dry, despite her best efforts with the small towel she had packed – only semi-wet itself with rain water that had managed to seep into her weather-proof pack. Her books had not been touched by the rain, thank goodness. Her elven cloak which had done a rather marvellous job at keeping her body nice and dry, had dried in almost no time at all

She wished they had been able to light a fire but Thorin had deemed that action as being unwise so she sat in the darkness that was lit only by the two lanterns and the lightning that was still cracking against the sky outside the cave. The silence in the cave was deafening.

Why did she even stay when she was so clearly not wanted? Why stay, when she was worse than useless to the company. She didn't want to break her word but…

She almost got Thorin killed… again

She had almost gotten all the dwarves killed… again

She pressed her face into her hands and tried to rid herself of the images of the dwarves dying because of her.

No… she had made up her mind

She refused to have any deaths on her hands, and if leaving meant they didn't have to worry about her anymore and they didn't have put their lives in danger trying to protect her, then so be it.

Nori was a far better thief than her anyway. Or they could find someone else; they would be passing through Laketown would they not? On their way to the Lonely Mountain? Surely they could find a human who would be willing and able to help them complete their quest.

She peered around the dark cave. All was silent, all was still, the dwarves all appeared to be sleeping more or less peacefully, even Thorin and Bofur, who seemed to have dropped off to sleep on his watch.

The storm outside seemed to have died down to a light pattering of rain with the lightning and thunder rolling away northward.

With a deep breath, she packed up what belonging she had pulled from her pack, threw her cloak once more over her shoulder, her father's walking stick clasped tightly in her hand.

She picked her way carefully around the slumbering bodies, trying to ignore the stab of pain in her chest over leaving them.

 _They don't like you_ ; her Baggins side mutter softly, words tinted with sadness, _they won't care to see you gone_.

 _They stole books for me, though_ , she thought sadly, thinking of the three elvish books that sat in her pack. The ones she had discovered on that first night after leaving Riverndell just as she was going to bed. She still wasn't entirely sure which of the dwarves had been involved in the theft of the books, as no one had fessed up, but she had a fairly strong idea and it had made her all the more fonder of them and making it just that bit harder for her to leave them.

She received no response from her Baggins side nor from her Took, leaving her to pick her way around the slumbering bodies in silence.

She had just reached the cave entrance when she heard movements just to her left.

"Bilbo? What are ya…"

 _Bofur_ , she squeezed her eyes shut, _not Bofur, why couldn't it be anyone else?_

"Where do ya think yer going?" Bofur whispered frantically jumping to her side, catching her elbow lightly while she stamped her walking stick against the stone floor of the cave in agitation.

She couldn't… she couldn't meet his eyes.

"Back to Rivendell." She muttered, looking anywhere but at him.

"No, no, no, ya can't turn back now, yer part of the Company. Yer one of us."

She let out a small humourless laugh as she looked up at Bofur, pain and misery written all over her face.

"I'm not though, am I? Thorin said I should never have come, and he was right. I've caused you all nothing but trouble." She looked away from him again, staring bitterly out the cave.

"I'm not a Took." She hissed furiously. _I am not my mother_ , "I'm a Baggins," _I am my father's daughter through and through._ "I don't know what I thinking." _I didn't want to get married and tie myself to someone who did not love me and wanted me only for my home and money_. "I should never have run out my door."

She stamped her walking stick against the ground with each word she spoke, her eyes vaguely picking up a faint echo that seemed to come from below rather than around them, but she ignored it.

"Yer homesick." Bofur smiled at her gently though it only made her fume, "I understand."

"No!" She scrunched up her face as the pain in her chest fought to burst from her, "no, you don't, you don't understand. None of you do – you're dwarves! You're used to – to this life," she waved a hand at the cave they were in, "to living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere."

Her hands were pressed to her face before she had even finished ranting, wishing that she had been able to hold her tongue just, just one last time because those were not the words she ever wanted to say to this dwarf, not ever, and certainly not as her final words to him.

All the anger and pain that had been within her only moments ago were now completely drained as she pulled her face from her hands to stare at the dwarf before her, who instead of looking furious or offended by her cruel words, simply looked sad and forlorn and she hated it, she truly hated herself for being the person who made him look like that.

"I'm," she looked away, fighting back stupid tears that threaten to fall, "I'm sorry, that wasn't…"

"No," Bofur said softly, his gaze moving to look around the cave and at their sleeping companions, "yer right. We don't belong anywhere."

"Bofur." How could her heart break twice in as many hours and because of two different dwarves?

"I wish ya all the luck in the world." He reached out and touched her tear-wet cheek, "I really do. Keep safe now and follow tha path. Hopefully ya'll find tha wizard and he can help get ya back to Rivendell safe and sound."

 _Say something, for goodness sake, say something!_ Her Baggins and Took side screamed together but Bilbo was without words. For what could one say in response to this incredible dwarf who had taken her cruel, uncaring words and in return only spoke words of kindness and well-wishing? Nothing for any words she did find to speak were undeserving of this wonderful dwarf who deserved the world and more.

 _I could never have given him what he deserves_ , she thought as she stepped out of the cave and into the light rain.

She didn't look back as she started making her way back down the path, promising as she went that if she did find Gandalf she would force him to go on to find the dwarves rather than escort her back to Rivendell. The dwarves needed him far more than she did.

She was just thinking this when her toe caught on a particularly large stone that had been sticking up from the path sending her flying forward with a painfully thump, her silly little sword sliding out from its sheath.

"Ouch, ouch." She whispered as she slowly picked herself up, rubbing elbows and knees that throbbed painfully from her fall.

"Ouch…" she went to pick up her sword but her hand froze just over its hilt.

The blade was blue… why was the blade glowing blue?

What had Gandalf said about…

" _The blade is of Elvish make which means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby."_

Her heart stuttered in her chest as she snatched up the blade, swinging it wildly around her, her eyes hunting for any movement upon the path. But nothing, no terrifying shape was bearing down upon her from the stormy gloom.

She turned the blade slowly in front of her and the glow seemed to fade just a little before she turned it back the way she had come and felt her heart immediately sink.

Well… of course.

She broke into a run back up the path, her feet slipping upon the wet stones, watching as the blade grew brighter and brighter the closer she got back to the cave.

"WAKE UP!" She screamed as she immediately jumped into the cave catching Bofur and Thorin who appeared to be in deep discussion by surprise, their mouths both dropping at the sight of her and her glowing letter opener.

"Lass? Ya-ya came back!" Bofur stuttered his face breaking into a wide grin of pure joy.

She waved her glowing blade in his face her eyes wide with panic.

"We need to wake everyone up." She yelped, "There are goblins."

"Wha?"

"Goblins! Or Orcs!" She yelled and all around her dwarves were starting to stir just as a long crack started to appear upon the floor that they were all sleeping upon.

"WAKE UP!" Thorin bellowed but it was too late for any of the dwarves to react to their leaders command for the floor was giving way and they were falling, falling, falling. How Bilbo didn't manage to skew someone with her little blade would haunt Bilbo for years to come.

She landed on her back with a thump on top of Thorin and Bofur, winded and barely able to comprehend what had just happened, only barely registering how close she had come to ending her own life by stabbing herself in the chest with her own little blade.

Hands upon her shoulders shook her firmly from her stupor and she took in the fact they she was surrounded by yelling and awful screeching.

She let out a pathetic little whimper when her eyes fell upon her first ever goblin or rather it should be goblins plural as the company were being swarmed by them from all directions.

Bofur and Thorin seemed to be trying to keep between her and the goblins with very little luck as they were both grabbed and dragged by the goblins along with the rest of the company off the platform that they had fallen upon and onto a rocky path leading further downwards into the mountain.

Fighting back a sob, Bilbo sank to the ground to avoid being touched by the vile creatures, her arms wrapped around her head as her sword lay uselessly down at her feet.

It took a moment or two to register that she appeared to be being left alone and when she raised her head she saw that this was very much the case. The goblins were herding the dwarves down the path, but appeared to be completely obvious to her existence.

Was it because she was a hobbit and they had never seen one before? Or had they simply not looked down?

She would have liked to have had time to think over this, but there simply wasn't any. She didn't know if it was wise to try and follow after the dwarves but there was no way for her to get back to surface and try and find Gandalf to rescue them.

Forcing herself to be brave she picked up her silly little blade and started sneaking after the horde of goblins, her heart sticking almost painfully in her throat.

She was almost going to applaud herself for being so sneaky as she followed after the goblins when she heard a nasty hiss and then suddenly a goblin was jumping down from the roof of the tunnel in front of her. This goblin was very aware of her existence and immediately lunged for her.

With a frighten little squeak she swung her little blade, forgetting all instructions Dwalin had been trying to teach her on how to use it. She simply swung wildly as the goblin kept trying to rush her, its vile body just barely keeping out of range of her glowing sword. The creature hissed and spat at her in fury, running a long black tongue over its sharp yellow teeth.

Hunching down low, the goblin lunged at her again, and with a terrified yelp, Bilbo took one step to far backwards and found herself once again, for the fourth – or was it fifth? – time that night, for herself falling. The goblin shrieked bloody murder from above her as it too realised its error and was plummeting into the darkness with her.

Bilbo squeezed hers eyes shut and waited for the sickening thud that would surely break every bone in her body.

 _I'm sorry Bofur for my words, I didn't mean them. I'm sorry Thorin, everyone, for being such a useless burglar and letting you all down._

 _I'm sorry Papa; I won't be coming home as I promised._

 _Here I come Mama; I'll be seeing you soon._

The thud wasn't quite as loud as she expected but she didn't have time to think of as her world faded to black.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So first thing first, one of the things that I did cut from this chapter was Gandalf rejoining the group the night after they had left Rivendell. It was a nice little scene that was fun, but again, it simply didn't flow with this chapter. I just, the reason I put him back in was because I didn't understand why it would take him so long to catch up to the dwarves. In the movie it implies days have passed if not a week since they've left Rivendell and I can't see The White Council, as peeved as they might have been at Gandalf's deception keeping him locked up in Riverndell. But in saying that I can also see why Peter and Crew cut him from that segment of the movie because it doesn't make sense really in the book for Gandalf to disappear when the dwarves and Bilbo get captured only to re-appear to rescue them all. So in my version, Gandalf was with them during Thunder Battle but he, much like Bilbo, had the ill luck of slipping down the mountain during the fight, but he unlike Bilbo, slipped a good deal further and had to get himself back up to the ledge that the dwarves were on, find the cave, figures out pretty quickly what happened and then goes after the dwarves and Bilbo to rescue them then. I haven't written this, but if you would like to read it, let me know and I'll give it a crack.

On entirely different subject, but still involving writing hobbit fanfiction, I've done a bad thing. And no, it's not that I've gotten writers block so bad on this fic that I won't be continuing - hardly, Riddles in the Dark is up next and I've been dying to write that chapter since I was a kid! - but I've done the thing that most Fanfic Author's are guilty of... and that is... I've started writing another fanfic.

I didn't mean to, honest, it just that this fic, the one that I'm writing along side this one has been sitting in my head for years - Actually its two fics that I've joined into one that have been sitting in my head for years, but I digress.

Anyway, it started with me simply writing out an outline for this new fic - which i have never ever done before, but hey, to all the people who said it was a good idea, hey guys, you are so right! - and then, when I had more or less written the outline out, I just sort of started writing the fic itself and now it's like sixty-nine pages long. But I won't be posting it up until I have this fic a little more under control, and because this other fic is a What-If AU scenario that starts at a very specific place in the Hobbit story. If you want to hear more about it, please feel free to comment or PM me and I'll give you a brief run-down of the story.

Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter - and long-winded Author's Note - and reviews as always are appreciated.

Next Chapter is (obviously) _Riddles in the Dark_...


	12. Riddles in the Dark

**25/04/2018 (ANZAC DAY) Author's Note:** Hello my dear readers. Sorry for the delay with this chapter. It took a lot longer to write up than I was expecting (it's actually one of the few big pivotal scenes in the book/first two movies that I hadn't pre-written in some form prior to actually writing the chapter). It's a total of 15 and a bit pages and Gosh, I hope I've done it justice. It's a bit of a mix of the what's in the book and what's in the movie, plus obviously a lot of my own stuff. It took pretty much a day for me to write and I've been editing it on and off for the past week or so. I'm in a bit of a weird place with it where I'm both happy with it and absolutely hating it, but what can you do? I want to move forward with the story and when this fic is done and dusted, I might go back and re-write a few things that make me wince when I read them again after posting.

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

 **Riddles in the Dark**

When Bilbo opened her eyes, she found herself wondering if she actually had, for having them open was just as dark as if they were still shut. The only source of light she could make out in the darkness was her little blade that was lying just a little ways away, still glowing faintly blue.

She slowly pushed herself upwards, surprised to find that what she appeared to have fallen on and had subsequently broken her fall and saved her from dying, were mushrooms. Huge, plush-y mushrooms.

 _That must be a first_ , she decided as she gently patted the squashed fungus in appreciation for saving her life and keeping her from breaking any bones.

 _Thank you_ , she thought to the squashed mushrooms.

She was just reaching out for her little blade when she heard a hissing groan from somewhere nearby. Her hand immediately jerked back under the cover of the mushrooms and held her breath for several moments before crawling slowly forward.

Peering through the mushrooms, she could just make out the sight of the goblin who had taken the fall with her. It unfortunately had not been so lucky as to fall upon a huge mushroom patch but instead had landed on its back on solid rock.

If the creature hadn't been trying to kill her… however long ago, she might have actually felt sorry for it, the way it withered upon the rock, hissing and letting out little shrieks of pain with every movement it made.

She was so transfixed watching the pathetic creature it took her mind a moment or two to register that just beyond her peripheral vision there was movement that didn't not belong to the goblin.

She sunk down further into the mushrooms when she finally did register a pair of pale lamp-like eyes creeping through the darkness towards the fallen goblin.

The creature was not much bigger than herself, though it was thin, terribly thin with long wiry arms and legs. The creature wore barely more than a loincloth and its feet where of a similar size to a hobbits, though he appeared to prefer walking on all fours, on its hands and knees.

It gave a frightening cackle of glee as it scrambled over to the goblin, chanting in a high, twisted voice;

"Yes. Yes. Yes! Yes! Gollum. Gollum." And when the creature said ' _gollum_ ' he made a horrible swallowing noise in his throat that sent an awful shiver down her spine.

The creature eagerly circled the goblin before lunging forward to grasp the goblin's ankle. The goblin let out a terrific shriek and started to struggle with earnest, pulling a hiss from the frail creature who Bilbo was quick to realise was much stronger than his frail appearances suggested.

With three quick blows of a rock to the goblin's head, the goblin fell into a death-like state while the creature yipped away in triumph, jumping forward once more to grasp the goblin by its ankles.

With its leap forward, Bilbo watched in surprise as what appeared to be a solid gold ring, fell unnoticed from a pocket on one side of the creature's loincloth.

Bilbo watched, almost hypnotised as the ring fell with an almost resounding thud that she felt deep within her very chest. How the creature had missed noticing that the ring was dropped was beyond her comprehension, for despite how little a thing the ring was, it held presences that Bilbo didn't think any ring so plain and ordinary had any business holding.

"Nasty goblinses." The creature was hissing as it started dragging the goblin away. "Better than old bones, Precious; better than old bones."

Bilbo did not move from her hiding spot for a good five minutes before she crawled cautiously to her feet and staggered over to her sword, one hand lightly pressed against her throbbing head, trying her best not to think of how damp her hair felt on one side. When she pulled her hand away, she could see the dampness upon it was dark in colour and quick sniff confirmed her suspicious that it was blood.

 _Lovely_ , she thought a little woozily as she picked up her little blade.

"Go back?" She mumbled to herself looking up the way she had fallen, "Not good at all. Go sideways?" There was sheer rock on either side of her. "Impossible. Go forward?" She looked unhappily in the direction the creature had gone in. "Only thing to do! On we go!" She said as bravely as she could muster, as she held out her little glowing blade out in front of her. The blue light shining from it seemed to be growing dimmer with each second passing.

 _That creature_ , Bilbo thought with a shudder as she looked from her sword to the passage in front of her, _must not be a goblin._

 _That doesn't mean it's not still something foul_ , her Took side commented warily and Bilbo swallowed back a wave of fear before forcing herself to take several steps forward.

She almost walked completely past the little ring she had seen falling from the creature's pocket, only for her to remember it at the last moment.

She wavered her little blade around and was quick to find the little ring gleaming slightly in the blue light.

She bent down and picked the odd little ring up. It was very plain ring with no inscriptions that she could see, though oddly it appeared to be the right size for a hobbit, which she thought was a little strange. And maybe it was her head wound playing tricks on her but before she had picked it up, it had seemed larger, only for it to shrink when she lay it in the palm of her hand.

 _All in your head Bilbo_ , she thought giving her aching head a little shake, _all in your head_.

She pocketed the ring without thought, before continuing cautiously forward, her blade held out in front of her as she stumbled down the passage way, praying that she would not run into the creature.

Only it seemed that the passage she was in was directly taking her to the creature, whom she could hear faintly singing;

" _The cold hard lands, they bite our hands, they gnaw our feet._

 _The rocks and stones, they're like old bones, all bare of meat._

 _Cold as death, they have no breath, it's good to eat!_ "

She warily peered around the corner of the passage way and saw with a sinking heart that she had been lead to some kind of underground lake. There was an eerie light shining in pockets from the high roof of the cavern but it offer no comfort to the frighten little hobbit.

Near the centre of the lake she thought she could make out a small island and possibly movement upon it, only to become distracted by her little blade, which had lost the last of its blue glow and left her all alone in the horrible eerie light of the cavern.

 _Oh,_ she thought with a little sob as she stared in despair at her little elven blade, _please don't leave me. There are foul things in this place still!_

But the little blade had returned to its normal state, leaving Bilbo feeling alone and utterly terrified in a dark cold place. Worst of all, Bilbo realised a little too late, was that the creature had stopped singing and when she peered into the darkness towards the little island in the middle of the lake, she saw no moment upon it.

She pressed a hand to her mouth to fight back a desperate little sob. How was she ever to get back to the others? And where was Gandalf? Had he fallen to his death? Or was he looking for them now? Would they think to look for her too? Or would she only noticed to be gone when it was far, far too late?

All Bilbo wanted to do was sit herself down upon a rock and have a good cry. And she very well would have done so if not for a low hiss came from just above her head.

"Bless us and splash us, Precious!" The creature leapt from the large rock she had been leaning against twisting himself to land in an almost graceful fashion in front of her. "That's meaty mouthful!"

Bilbo let out a terrified scream as she scrambled as far back against the rock as she could – her pack which had miraculous remained with her despite her multiple falls over the course of the night, was hindering her somewhat in her attempted escape – as the creature crawled eagerly towards her, its bright lamp-like eyes gleaming hungrily.

The creature only stopped his approach, as Bilbo thrust her little blade out in front of her, pressing the tip against the hollow of his throat.

His huge bright eyes somehow seemed to grow even wider with fear and he was quick to beat a hasty retreat, though not nearly as far away as Bilbo would have liked, he was still very well within leaping distance from her.

"Gollum. Gollum." The creature hissed horribly, pacing a short distance from her, his eyes never leaving her blade.

"Back!" She squeaked, hands trembling around the hilt of her blade, "Stay back! I'm warning you, don't-don't come any closer!"

"It's got an elvish blade, but its not an elf." The creature hissed, sounding almost puzzled as it looked from her blade to her and then back again. The strange creature looked little less terrifying with his face screwed up in confusion and-and curiousity. The way he looked at her was almost like he was trying to place something he had long forgotten, his eyes lingering for some time upon her feet. "Not an Elfs, no. What is it, Precious? What is it?"

He started approaching her again, his eyes bright with curiosity, eager in a way that reminded her of children who were excited for her to tell them a story on a late summer evening under the party tree.

Her sword wavered a moment, but did not stop pointing it at the creature who took note of it again and once more backed off a short distance from her.

"My name," She squeaked with forced politeness because she could not think of how else she might deal with this situation and maybe keeping the creature talking would give her time to think of a way to escape or possibly be rescued, "is Bilbo Baggins."

"Bagginses?" the creature hissed softly, "What is a Bagginses, Precious?"

"I am a Hobbit from the-the Shire." Bilbo replied before wondering if that was actually a smart thing to have said, telling this strange creature what she was and where she came from. Especially when there seemed to be something of a flicker of recognition in the creature's eyes, though it was gone before Bilbo could ponder on it for too long.

"Oh!" The creature crowed in glee as he shuffled forward, though still keeping a wide berth of her blade, "We like Goblinses, batses, and fishes, but we hasn't tried Hobbitses before." The almost hungry gleam entered the foul creature's eyes again. "Is it soft? Is it juicy?"

Bilbo jumped backwards, almost sending herself tumbling backwards in her haste to get away, her sword swinging wildly out in front of her to keep the creature at bay.

"Now, now, Ke-keep your distance!" She said shrilly, still swinging her little blade around her wildly, "I will use this… if I have to."

The creature snarled deep within his throat.

"I-I don't want any trouble." She continued he voice impossibly high, "Just show me the way to get out of here, and I'll be on my way."

"Why," the creature hissed nastily, "is it lost?"

"Yes, yes I am. And I want to get unlost as soon as possible and find my way back to my company."

"Oooh!" Bilbo looked up startled at the sudden change in the creature who had become all the more child-like, bouncing up and down where he stood, grinning happily, "We knows! We knows safe paths for Hobbitses. Safe paths in the dark."

And then just as suddenly the child-like glee was gone and in its place was the face of the creature that wished to kill her.

"Shut up." He hissed looking thoroughly annoyed.

Bilbo took another step back, though she was now more confused than scared at that present moment.

"I-I didn't say anything." She stuttered in confusion.

The creature turned an unhappy look upon her.

"Wasn't talking to you." The creature hissed as it moved around a rock, only for it pop back up again with the more innocent, child-like expression on its face.

"But-but yes, we was, Precious, we was." The creature insisted apparently to thin air as he was no longer paying Bilbo much mind.

"Um, look," she started a little cautiously, her eyes briefly glancing at the passage she had come here by, "uh, I don't know what your game is, but I…"

"Games?" The creature's attention was back upon her, his eyes bright with delight and hopefulness, "we love games, doesn't we Precious?" he beamed widely back at her, "does it like games? Does it? Does it? Does it like to play?"

"Um… maybe?" Bilbo replied weakly. "You-you ask first."

The creature beamed brightly at her in delight, bounding on top of a rock in a crouch, as he started to recite;

" _What has roots as nobody sees,_

 _Is taller than trees_

 _Up, up it goes,_

 _And yet never grows?"_

"The-the mountain." She guessed without any trouble. No trouble at all actually, for it was a riddle she had been told as child by her mother. But how did this creature know it though? Or was she simply being small-minded? Thinking that riddles that existed in the Shire, only exist in there and nowhere else.

Who was to say that foul creatures of the world didn't enjoy a good riddle here and there? It must be quite tiresome simply being evil and kill things all the time, such creatures must possess other hobbies than purely doing despicable things.

The creature seemed to be delighted rather than angered that she had guessed correctly, letting out a loud and almost joyful cackle.

"Yess, yess," He cackled waving his long thin hand at her, still smiling happily, "oh, let's have another one, eh? Yes, come on, do it again, do it – do it again. Ask us."

But before Bilbo could do any such thing, the creature's mood once again changed to that of the darker, nastier personality. The creature, Bilbo was beginning to suspect, suffered from some kind of mind-sickness where it seemed to have two distinct and separate personalities co-existing within his head. One that was cold and nasty wanted to kill her where she stood while the other was almost child-like and seemingly desperate for company.

"No," the nastier personality hissed angrily, smacking his fist against a rock, "No more riddles. Finish her off. Finish her off. Gollum! Gollum." Gollum – whom Bilbo, in a split second, decided that from this moment onwards she would refer to him by the terrible noise he made – dashed forward, snarling and spitting, ready to kill her.

"No! No, no, no," She squeaked waving her sword at Gollum, "I-I wa-want to play. I do!" She forced herself to smile as the second personality, the child-like one seemed to pull forth again, his pupils becoming more pronounced as she spoke, "I want to play. I can tell you are _very_ good at this." And despite her instincts screaming at her, she found herself crouching down so that she was eye level with Gollum, who was creeping towards her eagerly, eyes darting all around him as if he was searching for someone only he could see.

"I can. I can see," she continued as if she was speaking to a small child who intellect was just a little lower than other children of their age, "how good you are at riddles. S-so why don't we have a game of riddles? Hmmm? Yes, just-just between you and me?"

Gollum scuttled ever closer to her, his head looking over his shoulder before smiling with child-like joy as he nodded eagerly.

"Yes," he almost seemed to plead, "yes, just, just-just the two of us."

"Yes, yes. And-and if I win, you'll show me the way out?"

Gollum nodded, still smiling.

"Yes. Yes." But then his smile dropped with a snarl as he slunk off, grumbling darkly under his breath.

"And if it loses?" he low hiss sent shivers down her spine, "what then?"

"Well, if it loses, Precious" the child-like personality responded with a bright smile, "We will eats it whole."

Bilbo's heart stuttered and for a moment she could only stare mutely at the creature as he leant forward eagerly as he continued to speak.

"If Bagginses loses, we eats it whole."

Bilbo sat there for a moment or two, her mind slow to digest this horrific deal.

 _You are clever_ , she tried to remind herself and build her bravery back up. _You have won many a riddle competition in your time! How hard can it be to match wits with a creature who has only had its self to talk to for who knows how many years! You can do this!_

 _And if it cheats?_ Her Baggins side sobbed.

Well… she was entirely defenceless; her grip on her little blade's hilt was almost painful.

"Fair enough." She said finally, standing up and unhappily sheathing the little blade watching Gollum relax some as she did so.

"Well, Baggins first." He smiled as he rested his hands upon the edge of a rock and popped his chin on top of them, watching her with an excited sort of energy about him.

"Um, alright." Bilbo squeaked and nearly burst her brain trying to think of a riddle that would save her from being eaten.

" _Thirty white horses on a red hill,_

 _First they champ,_

 _Then they stamp,_

 _Then they stand still."_

It was the first riddle that popped into her head, what with the idea of being eaten alive being so fresh in her mind.

She watched with bated breath as the Gollum opened and closed his mouth several times, his face screwed up as he thought.

She almost, almost let herself start to hope but the hope was quickly dashed when Gollum answered.

"Teeth?" He looked quite proud of himself too. "Yes, yes, my Precious. But we – we – we only have nine." Bilbo swallowed thickly when Gollum showed off his nine sharp teeth.

"Our turn," Gollum hissed as he started creeping forward again.

Bilbo immediately took several steps backwards and placed a large rock between them as the foul creature started reciting his second riddle;

" _Voiceless it cries,_

 _Wingless flutters,_

 _Toothless bites,_

 _Mouthless mutters."_

"Half a moment." Bilbo squeaked who could not quite stop herself from thinking about the possibility of being eaten. The thought was rather taking up all the space in her head and trying to figure out riddles was turning out to be quite a bit harder than she had originally anticipated.

Bilbo rubbed her mouth and chin, trying to focus her mind upon solving the riddle – which she was certain she had heard something similar to some years ago from her mother – and not think about being eaten.

From behind her, she heard the excitable side of Gollum's personality let out an excited cry of 'we knows! We knows!' before being promptly told to shut up his nastier side.

She looked out at the water of the lake and felt a small breeze pass her by, causing ripples against the lake's surface.

"Wind." She whispered to herself softly, before quickly spinning around to face Gollum, who was starting to look impatient, "It's wind. Of course it is."

Gollum snarled.

"Clever, Hobbitses, very clever."

He was getting too close, far too close for comfort. She didn't even think about pulling out her sword, it was simply there in her hand, pointed at Gollum's throat, causing him to hiss and reel quickly back.

"Hey! Hey now!" She yelped as she continued to force Gollum back with her sword, "enough of that, we haven't finished our game yet."

Gollum huffed and went back to the rock he had propped himself up against during her first riddle.

Once she was certain he wasn't going to try anything sneaky, Bilbo rattled her brain for her next riddle. The riddle she came up with was unfortunately a very simple one, but she was hoping it might buy her sometime to think up a really nice and hard one.

" _A box without hinges, key, or lid._

 _Yet golden treasures inside is hid."_

She winced the whole time she recited the riddle for it was a dreadfully easy one, even though she had not asked it in its usual words. However the riddle appeared to be giving Gollum quite a bit of trouble.

He hissed and whispered to himself, scuttling back and forth as if hunting for the answer.

"Well?" Bilbo squeaked, thinking maybe she had him, maybe in a moment or two she will have won and she could be led away from this dreadful place and somehow find the company.

"Give up?" she asked more as a plea.

"Give us a chance Precious, give us a chance!" Gollum howled in frustration as he pounded the rocky ground with his fists. He scrunched up his face, and puckered his lips, making a rather disgusting sucking noise as he thought.

 _Any moment now_ , Bilbo thought, fingers crossed as her side, _any moment…_

Gollum's eyes flew open, his eyes bright and happy while Bilbo's heart simply sunk as he cried;

"Eggses! Eggses!" he pranced about chortling, "What crunchy little eggses, yes. Grandmother taught us to suck them, yes."

Despite the almost overwhelming wave of disappointment, Bilbo couldn't help but feel a small surge of curiousity when the creature mentioned his grandmother. She did not think foul things of the world care for such things as family and yet…

She jumped as a bat flew overhead; her attention momentarily shifting from Gollum and a moment was all it took for Gollum to disappear when she turned back.

 _Oh… no._

She spun in a circle, sword held out in front of her, trying to see exactly where the horrible creature had disappeared off to.

"Ahh," Gollum's voice echoed from all around her, "We have one for you:"

" _This thing all things devours:_

 _Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;_

 _Gnaws iron, bites steel;_

 _Grinds hards stones to meal;_

 _Slays kings, ruins town,_

 _And beats high mountain down."_

Poor Bilbo stood in the dark thinking of all the horrible names of all giants and ogres in all the tales her mother her told her as a child, but not one had done all of those terrible things. She had a feeling that the answer was quite different from what she was thinking and that she ought to know it, but she could not think. She was quite frightened and that was always a bad thing when it came to thinking.

"Give me a moment please," She said to the darkness, forcing herself to move because maybe moving would make her a harder target then if she were to simply stand still.

She heard an irritated hiss and felt a surge of irritation of her own.

"I gave you a good long while." She snapped, stamping her foot. The hissing stopped and all fell silent as she continued to pace.

She wiped her face with the back of her hand as sweat started to drip into her eyes and the fear built painfully in her chest.

"I-I," She whimpered fearfully, "I don't – don't know this one."

Her hands shook terribly.

"Is it tasty?"

 _Oh heavens, where was he?_ She spun around again.

"Is it scrumptious? Is it crunchable?" She spun around again and let out a little scream as she jump back as Gollum made to lunge for her from the top of a rock that she had had her back to only seconds before. She shoved her sword right up and under his nose.

"Let me think!" She screamed, "Let me _think_!"

Gollum smiled at her despite her sword pointing at his face.

"It's stuck. Bagginses is stuck." He looked positively gleeful.

Bilbo took several more steps backwards, until she reached the water's edge, her heart beating painfully in her chest as she wondered if her death would at least be quick or if he would try to eat while she was still alive.

Could she kill him, with her little blade, before he was able to land a killing blow?

"Times up." The foul creature spoke with an almost nonchalant air about him, as if her death meant nothing. And to him, it probably did asides from giving him food.

Only… Bilbo felt a jolt inside of her as she let out a gasp of realization.

"Time! Time!" She shrieked at the top of lungs, the little sword waving madly in front of her to try and ward of any incoming attack. "Th-the answer is _Time_!"

Gollum eyes very nearly bugged out of their sockets while he let out a loud and nasty snarl. After several moments of horrid snarls and hissing whispers to himself, he finally turned back to Bilbo, hissing;

"It's got to ask uss a question, my preciouss, yes, yess, yesss. Jusst one more question to guess, yes, yess."

"Ah, oh…"

"Last question." Gollum growled, "Last chance."

But poor Bilbo could not think of any question, riddle or otherwise to ask and instead was desperately trying to remember all the techniques that Dwalin had been trying to teach her since she got her little sword.

Sadly all she could remember from any one of those torturously painful lessons was that she had a very nasty kick that had bruised Dwalin's ankle – despite his heavy leather boots – for days!

"Ask us." Gollum smiled sweetly for a moment before his expression changed to a snarl as he shrieked. "ASK US!"

"Ye-yes, yes, alright!" Bilbo couldn't help by sob, tears running down her cheeks because she could think of nothing to ask. She pinched her arm and slapped her cheek to try and shock herself into thinking better, but still nothing came to mind.

She didn't know what made her reach into her waistcoat pocket, just a desperate desire to find something that might trigger an idea inside her head. Her fingers brushed against something cool and smooth and obviously metal which for a hobbit was a very odd thing to carry and for the life of her could not think what it could possibly be.

"What have I got in my pocket?" She asked out loud. She was of course talking to herself but Gollum appeared to be thinking she was asking him.

"That's not fair! It's not fair! It's against the rules." Bilbo let out a squeak as Gollum threw a rock at her feet as he cried in anger and disgust. "It isn't fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it's got in its nasty little pocketses?"

"Ask us another one." Gollum huffed, crossing his long arms against his body, turning his head away in a pout.

"No, no, no, no." Bilbo said, shaking her head as she had nothing else better to ask and so decided to stick with her original question. "You said 'ask me a question'. Well, that is my question. What have I got in my pocket?"

Gollum hissed as he leapt from the rock he had been crouching on and start stalking around where Bilbo stood, though still keeping his distance as he eyed the sword in her hand.

"Three guesses, Precious. You must give us three." Despite herself Bilbo had to forcibly stop herself from laughing by pressing a fist to her mouth when Gollum held up two fingers instead of three.

It took her a moment or two to gain control over her laughter before she gave him a solemn nod.

"Three guess, yes. Very well, guess away."

"Handses?" Gollum asked.

Bilbo waved both her hands in the air, going to so far as even wiggling her fingers in an almost taunting fashion. She was thankful she had thought to pull her hand out of her pocket well before he had had his first guess.

 _Easy there Bilbo_ , she thought as the creature leapt around the rocky shore, hissing to himself furiously, _there is nothing truly stopping him from simply killing you. Don't push the envelope any further than it is clearly already being pushed._

"Wrong," she said in a mild manner, despite her cheeks being wet with tears still, "Guess again."

She watched as Gollum scampered around the rocky shore still, hissing with increasing anger and ferocity.

"Fish-bones, goblin's teeth, wet shells, bat wings… Knife?" He twisted around to see her holding her sword in front of her. He smacked his fist against the side of his skull. "Oh, shut up!"

"Wrong again." She let herself hope, really hope this time, "Last guess."

Now Gollum was in a state far worse than the egg question. He hissed and spat, slapping hands and feet against the floor as he wiggled and squirmed in ever growing distress and panic.

"String!" Gollum yelled, twisting in the spot, as he added with an accursing finger, "or nothing!"

"Two guesses at once," Bilbo said as she sagged in relief against a rock, "wrong both times."

She had done it. Oh thank goodness, it was over, it was done. She was going to live! She was going to get out this terrible dark wet place!

Gollum fell to the rocky shore, sobbing gut-wrenching sobs as he curled himself up into a ball, howling in misery.

Bilbo waited a few moments, inching as she did so to get as far away from the sobbing creature, her back pressed firmly to a the solid rock wall, her sword out in front of her. She might have won the game, more or less fair and square, but she didn't trust the wicked creature not to slink away into the darkness and break his promise… and possibly her neck.

"So, come then," She said speaking loudly to be heard over the terrible sobs, "I won the game, you promised to show me the way out."

"Did we say so, Precious?" Gollum slowly rose to a crouch, his gaze hateful as he stared at her, "Did we say so?"

 _Oh please_ , she whimpered as her trembling hands grasped her little blade all the more tightly.

"What _has_ it got in its pocketses?" he hissed.

Her sword was pointing directly at his snarling face, hoping, just hoping she might be able to hit him once when he finally lunged at her.

"That's," Bilbo gulped, "no concern of yours. You lost. A promise is a promise."

"Lost? Lost? Lost?" She hated how he smiled, his nine sharp teeth flashing in the awful stagnant light of the cavern.

She pressed herself against the rocky wall as Gollum started moving towards her, his hand shifting towards the tiny pocket at his side.

 _The ring_ , she thinks as she watches Gollum's face immediately fall, as his long, bony fingers clutched at the empty pocket.

"Where is it? Where is it?" True panic had entered his tone as he frantically searched the pocket before he started racing about the shore line, scattering bones and rocks, "No! Ah! Where is it? No! No!"

"Lost!" Despite herself and the ever present fear inside of her, Bilbo couldn't help but feel a swell of pity for the frantic creature who was crying in earnest as he frantically hunted for whatever it was he had lost.

Was-was it really the silly little ring in her pocket? Did it have that much value to the creature who lived so deep underground, so far from the sun?

"Curses and splashes, my precious is lost!"

Bilbo fingers slipped into her waistcoat pocket and for the briefest of moments thought about holding it out for the creature, before quickly changing her mind. This creature was going to kill her and giving him back the silly little ring wasn't going to change this fact in the slightest. He would probably think she had stolen it in any case.

"Please," She said, trying to pull the creature from his distress and desperate to be free of this awful place, "you promised to lead me out. Whatever you have lost you can look for it after you have taken me to my friends. Or at least to some kind of exit, I will go my own way from there."

The wicked creature had stopped crying and splashing about. He had, in fact, become very still, until in a very unsettling fashion he slowly started turning his head towards her, his face twisted in such a look of rage and hatred that Bilbo would have liked nothing better than to simply have run away in fear.

"What has it got in its _nasty_ little pocketses?"

She forced herself to hold her sword steady as she clutched the ring more tightly in her hand that held behind her back.

"She stole it!" He hissed with unspeakable rage, "She stole it! Ah! SHE STOLE IT!"

He screamed and threw a rock straight at her head and it was only because she had been expecting him to do something of the sort that allowed her duck out of the way in time, batting the rock away with her sword before fleeing back up the passage she had originally come down.

 _Dammit!_ She swore over and over again as she ran, ducking without thought into a small side passage, having no idea if it was a dead-end or not. Which it might as well have been for the only way out of the passage, aside from the way she had come, was through a very small crack in the wall, and heavens only knew where that lead!

She could hear Gollum cries and shrieks growing closer.

"Give it to us!"

She made for the tiny crack in the wall, throwing her pack through first before forcing herself to squeeze in after it. It was… it was very tight. She had lost a bit of weight on this venture due to not being able to access the usual amount of food or meals that a hobbit would have over the course of their day, but even so, she quickly found herself getting stuck in the crack.

"No." Bilbo whimpered, squirming and wiggling desperately. "No! No, no, no! I can't – I refuse to die because I got stuck in a bloody wall!"

She heard a hiss from the other end of the passage and stared in terror at the lamp-like eyes shining from the darkness.

"It's ours! It's ours!"

She inhaled as deeply as she could and pushed as hard against the rock with all her might. She could hear the sounds of ripping fabric from her waistcoat but thought nothing of it because she was falling, delightfully falling through the tiny crack.

She hit the floor of the passage she had fallen with a winded gasp as the ring she had been holding and appeared to be at least partially responsible for the situation she was currently in, flew out of her clenched fist in the air.

Without thought she made to grab it only for it to instead slide onto her middle finger.

Bilbo blinked as the world shift in a very unsettling fashion.

Wha… what was happening? Had she hit her head again with her fall?

Her surrounding was waving uncomfortably, having now an almost blurry quality to it even though she could actually make out more in the darkness with the ring on than she had with it off.

She was pulled from her utter confusion over her very strange vision of her surrounding as Gollum, who also looked very odd, with the edges of his form being blurry and wavy as he jumped through the crack and continued moving down the passage she had fallen through without looking back at her once.

 _Um… what?_

Bilbo rolled herself to her feet, picking up her pack and her little blade and without having any better plan, started chasing after him on silent feet.

"Thief! Baggins!" Gollum screamed from in front of her, his voice filled with such rage and anguish that any thought that he might be leading her into a trap were immediately dismissed.

But how was it hadn't seen her when she had been just lying there in the passage way, completely visible as he leapt after her.

Unless… she hadn't been.

She looked down at her hand, which was just as blurry and wavy as the rest of her surrounding, the ring glowing bright gold upon her middle finger.

But… it was far too plain to be a magic ring, and yet… Gollum seemed so upset and outraged to find it gone. And he had been reaching for it when he meant to kill her only for him to discover it missing.

She continued to chase after the miserable creature as he cursed her and sobbed, leading her up this passage way and down another, but steadily up, they were definitely going up which Bilbo was still trying to work out if this was a good thing or not.

But it appeared, and despite his previous murderous intention, he was not leading her astray and Bilbo almost let out a sob when in the distance as the end of the tunnel that they were currently running along, she saw light. Daylight!

She pressed her hand to her mouth, when quite to her disbelief; she heard the sounds of running feet and yelling. And more specifically, it was Gandalf's voice, yelling down the tunnel ahead of her.

Gollum, however, had pulled up short in the narrow passageway, ducking to hide behind a rock as Gandalf and the dwarves ran past.

 _No, wait!_ She sobbed in her head, raising a hand out towards them, but they paid her no heed as they ran and then disappeared out into the promised sunlight.

She was so close and yet so far!

She stared in frustration and anger at Gollum still crouched in the passageway opening, not moving even though the company appeared to be long gone.

 _Please,_ she thought, _just move! Move damn you! I need to get out of this terrible, terrible place._

Her fingers twitched around the little sword's hilt as she crept slowly closer.

 _One strike_ , she could hear Dwalin growling in her head, _that'll be enough to end this. Ya need to end this or ya'll be stuck 'ere forever._

She raised the little blade but still she hesitated.

It – it wasn't fair, to kill him while she was invisible and he had no weapon. She ignore the little voice pointing out that Gollum would have been more than happy to have killed her if their situation were reverse.

The miserable creature was turning its head away from the sunlight and staring with such a look of utter despair and grief written over his face. And it was such an old face too, one that had seen and done terrible things and yet, there was something so pitiful and for some bizarre reason she thought he looked rather hobbit-like.

In the end, it was the words Gandalf had spoken to her as he presented her with the little blade she held to the pitiful creature's throat that ultimately made her decision for her.

 _True courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one._

No, no, this was not the day that she would be taking a life. She would let the miserable creature live and she would not lose sleep over the decision even though she knew others would deem it to be unwise.

She took several steps back and watched as Gollum expression morph into a snarl, having heard her movements and though he could not see her, he certainly knew she was there.

But Bilbo could see sunlight and a way out and that had given her a wave of new strength within her and she refused to let this slippery little creature stop her from getting out this foul place.

She leapt like she had never before leapt in her life, right over Gollum's head – though her foot did connect with the side of it with a solid kick causing the creature to howl in pain and outrage, but by the time he had recovered Bilbo was off, running as fast as her legs could carry her down the passage and out, out into the sunlight. All the while Gollum's screams echoing behind her.

"Baggins! Thief! Curse it and curse it, we hates it forever!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So we're nearing the end of the first Hobbit Movie, which I will admit, of the three movies, it was and still is the one I love the most. Like, don't get me wrong I do like _Desolation of Smaug_ (though it is my least favourite of the three) and _The Battle of the Five Armies_ (which will always make me cry even though I spend a good chunk feeling furious about certain events and how some characters really over-stayed their welcome and they weren't even in the book! This a movie trilogy about dwarves! not elves and stupid underling's who should have died with the Master of Laketown!), I just really love _An Unexpected Journey_. It was the closest of the three movies to the book and it's just so magical, and it never fails to make me smile which the other two do tend to make me scowl (but only during certain parts, which now as they are on DVD, I can just fast-forward, so it's all good).

My other hobbit au fanfic is coming along nicely. It's around 93 pages long with the last word count being at 45,442 ( _Home is Behind, the World Ahead_ is currently sitting at a word count of 66, 253). Pretty good for someone with Dyslexia.

I'm actually pretty chuffed with how this new fic is coming along. It's been a real breeze to write (you know most of the time *touch wood*. It's had its usual hiccups, but overall, it's been really lovely and fun to write. I'm in a groove with it that I haven't had since the good old days with _The Most Precious of Treasures_ ).

For those who are interested the fic's working title is _The Crownless King Shall Reclaim His Throne_ and it's an AU fanfic of what might have happened in Smaug had truly been asleep when Bilbo snuck into his bedroom and had stolen the Arkenstone. It explores what course the story might have taken if this were the case and it's been a dream to write, lol. I don't know when I'll start posting it. Might wait til the company actually arrive in Erebor in this fic and then start posting chapters consecutively for both fics. Or you can let me know if you want to start reading _The Crownless King Shall Reclaim His Throne_ now-ish. It has a solid 12 chapters written for it already, so I can start posting it whenever. But I'll leave it up to you lovely readers.

anyway, thank you for reading this chapter (and long-winded author's note, lol), comments are appreciated.

thank you.


	13. Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire

**21/05/2018 Author's Note:** Sorry for the wait with this chapter. I had some issues with writing it... hence why it's quite long. It just sort of went on and on, but it's done now and that's the main thing. I've also been rather focus on writing my other Hobbit Fanfic, which I will hopefully start posting soon as it is, I think, just a few chapters away from being completed, which is exciting but I won't say anymore in case I jinx myself.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

 **Out of the Frying-Pan into the Fire**

Bilbo sides ached from how hard she was having to run to try and catch up with the company. Even though she had escaped her fall and fight with Gollum relatively unscathed, she was certain her body was decorated black and blue with bruises.

 _Just a bit further_ , she wheezed as she ran. Just a few more steps and she would be safe again.

Still far ahead of her she could hear Gandalf voice ringing out in the dusk air. It sounded as if he were counting.

 _The dwarves_ , she thought as she pressed on, _he's counting the dwarves and he will see that I am missing and_ … and she didn't know what would happen then.

They hadn't seemed to notice her being missing when they raced past her near the exit to the goblins' network of caves and tunnels. Maybe they hadn't realised she was gone… or maybe they simply didn't care.

She stumbled on a root that seemed to be doing its very best to trip her up, but with a lot of waving of her arms, she was able to catch herself only for her to end up falling painfully into a tree

The fall against the tree hurt but at least she was still more or less upright, for if she had fallen to the ground, she might never have gotten up again.

 _Oh_ , she chided herself sternly, _stop that! You must never think like that. Not ever_. A brief image of her father crossed her mind but she shoved the thought aside.

"Where is Bilbo?" Her head snapped up at the sound of her name being belted out in the relatively silent dusk.

"Where is our hobbit? Where is our hobbit?" Gandalf sounded angry and… and concerned… thank goodness.

Her feet slowed to a brisk trot as she finally caught up to the clearing that the company were all standing around in, looking utterly exhausted as they glanced uncomfortably around at each other.

It hurt a little to see that only a few of them actually appeared to be concerned that she was missing.

Did she truly mean so little to them that they were fine to leave her to a possible awful fate within the mountains where goblins and other foul things ran wild?

She winced as she listened to Dwalin curse her. Curse her and call her 'halfling'. She so did hate being referred to as 'halfling'. As if she were neither here nor there. She was not half of anything! She was a hobbit and that was nothing to be ashamed of!

She listened with a sinking heart as the dwarves fought, squabbling over who she was last with and where the last place she had been seen by any of them had been.

"I think I saw her slip away, when they collared us." Nori finally spoke up over the tin, loud enough for both Gandalf and her to hear.

"What happened exactly?" Gandalf thundered, "Tell me!"

"I'll tell you what happened," Thorin stepped forward, his brow forward and a deadly scowl painted across his face.

Bilbo sank heavily against the tree she was leaning against, heart pounding wildly in her ears.

"Master Baggins saw her chance and she took it! She has thought of nothing but her soft bed and her warm hearth since first she stepped out of her door! We will not be seeing our Hobbit again. She is long gone."

Bilbo's chest burned with anger as she fiddled with her newly found magic ring, silently thanking it again for gifting her with invisibility.

How-how dare he! Had she not proven time and again that she was here to very end! That she would do everything in her power to do her part? How could he… Yes, of course, she missed home! How could she not? How could anyone not miss their home? How…

The silly little ring slid off of her finger and the world returned to normal – thank goodness, the sick look the world had taken on while she was wearing the silly little thing had been quite disconcerting… and made her feel quite ill, if she was being truly honest with herself – and with a deep steadying breath, she stepped out from behind her tree.

"No, she isn't."

She would have laughed at the hilarious expressions that crossed the faces of the dwarves as they all snapped to look in her direction, but she couldn't drop her eyes from Thorin whose expression had become a peculiar one indeed.

"Bilbo Baggins!" Gandalf cried out in relieved gladness. "I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!"

Bilbo looked away from Thorin's expressionless face and smiled widely at Gandalf, all the while accepting the fond pat on the back from Balin who had been one of the few dwarves who had looked disturbed at the fact that her fate had been unknown and now looked relieved to see her safe and sound.

She waved brightly at the Broadbeams who looked as if they were seconds away from tackling her with a huge hug. She hoped they, or at least, Bombur would hold off until her bruises were a little less tender.

"Bilbo!" Kili was exclaiming, grinning widely at her from his brother's side, "we'd given you up!"

 _Yes, I know, I heard_ , was on the very tip of her tongue and something must have shown on her face for Fili quickly jumped forward, asking, "How on earth did you get past the Goblins?"

"How, indeed?" Growled Dwalin and Bilbo felt her earlier annoyance at the dwarf raise its head again.

It would be so easy to give into the temptation to yell, but instead she found herself wavering because… did she even want to tell the dwarves what happened to her after she became separated from them when they were captured? To tell them of her attempt to follow after them when they were captured by the goblins and she was left behind? Of being jumped by a goblin, the fight between it and her before they both went tumbling off the cliff into the cavern below. To tell the dwarves about Gollum and the battle of riddles, of her finding the…

The ring felt suddenly heavy in her hand and she found herself suddenly desperate to hide it away, to keep it secret, to keep it safe.

Let them wonder how she escaped, she thought with a hint of bitterness, they did not deserve to know the truth, not with how they have doubted her from the very beginning.

So instead of answering, she simply smiled an exaggeratingly sweet smile at Dwalin and shrugged her shoulders, ignoring the sharp pain that cut between her shoulder blades from her multiple falls over the course of several hours.

She slipped her funny little ring into her waistcoat pocket, feeling reassured when she felt the weight of it as it sat there, nice and safe.

"Well," Gandalf voice broke through her thoughts and she was startled to see him watching her closely with an odd expression written across his old, wise face, "what does it matter? She's back!"

"It matters!" Bilbo jumped at Thorin's voice, her head twisting around to stare hesitantly at the dwarven king. He was still wearing the same peculiar expression as he had worn the moment she had appeared before them, his piecing blue eyes seemed to be staring straight to her soul.

"I want to know," He continued, his voice oddly quiet, "why did you come back?"

She stared him for a long moment, because why had she indeed?

Was it because she knew that she would certainly die in the Wilds if she tried to make it back to Rivendell on her own? Or because…

She remembered the unkind and almost cruel words she had snapped at Bofur only – was it truly just hours ago? It felt like a life time now – about dwarves not having a home; that they didn't belong anywhere.

She had been hurt then, angry for once more bringing Thorin ire down upon her head because of something she had been unable to help and had lashed out at the one of the few dwarves who had always been kind to her, lashed out with words that would have hurt him deeply, and had, and yet he had still been kind, so kind to her and…

"Look," She scrunched up her face a little as she spoke, forcing herself to think carefully over her words, because she knew, she knew the next few words she spoke to Thorin Oakenshield and company would be the most important words she ever spoke to them and if she got them wrong, if she got them wrong...

"I know you doubt me. I know you always have." And though she was speaking to the company as whole, her eyes were focused purely on Thorin, refusing to lower her gaze for a moment as she spoke, determined to be more than just a bothersome burden in his eyes for once.

"And you're right, I often think of Bag End." She shrugged and gave a weak, but unapologetic smile, for after all, it was her home.

"I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. And that's why I came back, cause you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can." She looked around at the dwarves and at Gandalf who smiled at her and then back at Thorin, who after a long moment, lower his eyes to her, his head tilting ever so slightly forward before he looked back at her as she let out a shaking breath as she shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, suddenly becoming acutely aware that she was the centre of everyone's attention.

"Um, so yes, uh." She blushed red as she scuffed a foot against the ground, "that's-that's all I have to say."

She was saved, if it could possibly be called saving, from her embarrassment by the horrific sounds of shrieking and howling from behind them.

"Out of the frying pan…" Thorin growled as the company ran about grabbing weapons and whatever packs they had managed to save from being lost in the Goblin caves.

"… and into the fire!" Gandalf finished before roaring for them to run, herding Bilbo along in front of him as the company once more started running down the mountain side.

She was keeping pretty good pace with the company right up until the moment a Warg jumped over her head and landed with a snarling thump directly in front of her.

She grabbed her sword and shoved it in front of her as the Warg charged, knocking her clean of her feet.

 _I'm dead_ , she thought as she landed with a painful thump to the ground.

She waited for the Warg to bite her or to do some other horrible thing that would result in a painful death only for her to belatedly realise that the creature, in its haste to kill her had actually impaled its forehead upon her sword, killing itself instantly.

Bilbo simply stared for a long moment before remembering with the help of another petrifying howl that she was in terrible danger and she needed to run.

She could hear the company yelling and the sounds of fighting and wargs dying but, and she knew she needed to move only… her little blade was lodged deep in the Warg's head.

 _Leave it!_ Her Baggins side screamed. _Come back for it later._

But would there be a later? Bilbo didn't know and something inside of her just couldn't bear to leave this little blade that was now glowing blue with the approach of orcs.

She didn't know how long she struggled to pull the blade out but it was long enough for when it did finally come free she was alone and there was a nasty pack of wargs racing towards her.

"Bilbo!" Bofur roared from up one of the pine trees.

"We've left the Burglar behind again." She hears someone, she thinks it is Nori, the utter arse, call with a tone far too amused for her taste. "Better hurry up lass or you're gonna be eaten!"

"Shut up!" Bilbo shrieked because she has been threaten quite enough today with the notion of being eaten.

It had been a good many years since Bilbo had last climbed a tree. And when she had climbed said trees during her tweenhood, it had not been what you would say, by her own choice. It had usually been because she was being chased by one or more of Farmer Maggot's beastly dogs after she had stolen a bag of mushrooms from his garden. And really, where was the difference with the two situations? Absolutely none. Good heavens, how she hated dogs!

But even so, her running and climbing trees to avoid Farmer Maggot's dogs had actually given her an essential skill and she was able to be up a tree with the dwarves with such speed she had impressed even Dwalin and Gloin, who stared at her with open mouths.

"Fear," Nori yelled to her with a grin, "powerful motivator, ain't it?"

Bilbo, in return, made a very un-lady-like gesture of flipping him the bird which had him and several other dwarves who had seen her do it, throw their heads back and laugh.

"Stop laughing!" She shrieked at them as she watched Wargs come tearing into the clearing, leaping up against the trunks of the trees, their great white teeth flashing in the dusk light. "None of this is funny."

She clutched desperately at the tree she was in, as the wargs snarled and circled them below.

"Bilbo!"

She looked around just in time to see a flaming pinecone being thrown at her by Gandalf. Her hands shot out without thought, grabbing it out of the air and yelping when she had realised what she had done. Only, it didn't burn. The pinecone was a lovely and warm, but the flames did not burn her flesh.

She looked at Bofur in amazement before helping him to light his own pinecone, and then she took aim.

She landed a cracking shot to a Warg's head, setting the creatures whole head and neck aflame, sending it racing away, yelping its head off.

"Nice shot!" She heard Fili yell as he threw his own pinecone, this one hitting the rump of a warg and making it squeal.

Bilbo, despite herself and her ever growing fear, grinned and took special delight in that every single throw she made, she hit a Warg right in their ugly face, setting them on fire from snout right down to their tail.

She was just beginning to think that maybe just maybe they might be alright when the wargs that were still circling the trees suddenly withdrew as a low growling horn sounded.

Bilbo looked up around her in surprise, seeing her surprise echoed in the faces of the dwarvens around her.

"Orcs!" She squeaked when she saw where the wargs had withdrawn to, her heart racing as a pack of orcs suddenly appeared a little ways off, led by a huge pale orc mounted upon a massive white wargs back.

She sucked in a breath as her memories stirred.

No, it couldn't be… could it?

"Azog?!" She heard Thorin whisper, answering her unasked question, from a tree near to her own. His face had lost all colour as he stared at the Pale Orc, his expression stricken with old grief and pain.

She heard the Pale Orc speak, his tone almost lazy as black speech rolled from his foul tongue.

"It cannot be." Thorin whisper his tone filled with disbelief.

"Thorin!" Dwalin roared pulling Thorin from his agony as the pack of wargs once more started lunging at the trees the company were sitting in. They jumped as high as they could, snapping off branches with their large jaws.

"Jump Bilbo!" Bofur yelled as the tree they were in started to be uprooted by the wargs attack.

Bilbo jumped with all her might into the next tree, almost falling into the jaws of the wargs below, only to have the back of her coat caught by Thorin – A _gain! Saved by that dwarf again!_ Bilbo groaned, _oh, would the humiliation never end?_ – and he dragged her bodily onto a branch.

Gandalf dropped more flaming pinecones for Bilbo and the dwarves to throw at the wargs and once more, the wargs howled in pain and outrage as they were hit by fire-y projectiles.

But as many wargs as they managed to drive back and away, more seemed to simply come forward and take their place and before long, Bilbo felt the tree that she, the dwarves and Gandalf were now all standing in, start to give way.

With a pounding heart, she looked down and saw what she had not noticed before, that they were in a tree at the very edge of a cliff and the roots of the tree had started to pull away from the ground and they were now beginning to lean precariously over the edge of an immense drop.

"Oh," Bilbo found herself sighing as the tree went further and further over the edge, "I am getting so very tired of falling off cliffs."

She thought she heard an amused snort from her side only to remember that it was Thorin and he found nothing about whatever she did amusing.

"Oh no, not again." Bilbo groaned as the tree gave a final awful creak and suddenly they were all hanging desperately to their branches over the edge of the cliff.

She heard the horrible sound of Ori's frighten scream as he lost his grip on his branch. Bilbo didn't have time to even scream out in horror before relief crashed down upon her as the young dwarf managed to grab a hold of his oldest brother's leg.

"Mister Gandalf!" Dori yelled before he too lost his grip upon his own branch only to catch hold of the end of Gandalf's staff that he had thrusted down towards the two brothers' just in time.

Bilbo gasped for air, unsure of just how much more her poor heart could take of this.

She watched as Nori desperately tried to reach for his brothers, only for the tree to sway dangerously and being yelled at to stop moving. The middle Ri brother had shot them all a furious, challenging look but ultimate stop his struggle to get to his brothers. At least, for the time being.

Bilbo yelped when her own branch moved in a stomach dropping fashion, her head snapping in the direction of Thorin whose face was set in a look of pure hatred and rage.

"What are you…" She trailed off as he hoisted himself on top of the tree trunk, brandishing his sword and his oaken branch shield seated upon his arm.

"No!" Bilbo yelped in horror because surely he would not do something as stupid and reckless as try and take on Azog by himself.

"Dwalin!" She shrieked to the only dwarf who might have a chance of stopping Thorin, bodily if nothing else.

"Thorin!" Dwalin bellowed in the same moment as she yelled to him, "Don't ya dare!"

But the dwarf king paid neither of them any heed as he started barrelling down the tree trunk, sword raised as he hurtled toward Azog who smirked widely, his white warg lowering itself into a crouch.

"THORIN!"

Bilbo dragged herself further up onto the branch watching in horror as Thorin in one lunge from Azog Warg was knocked clean off of his feet before he managed to swing his sword even once.

The scene before her only grew worse as Azog managed to knock Thorin yet again to the ground with the massive mass he carried at his side.

She pressed a hand to her mouth when the massive white warg picked Thorin up in its great jaws and bit deeply into his torso.

"THORIN!" Dwalin bellowed as the dwarves around her cried out in pain and horror, each scrambling to reach their leader.

She didn't know what possessed her to do what she did next. In fact, in years to come, her memory of this night would become very foggy, especially when it came to how she went from hanging from the tree branch over the edge of the cliff to finding herself running as fast as her short legs could carry her to Thorin's side.

She didn't even remember who she had been aiming for and it had been by pure luck that she happened to crash into the orc who had been about to cut off Thorin's head.

She slammed with all her weight against the solid foul creature, snapping her head back painfully as they both tumbled to the ground. But despite the screaming pain in her head, she somehow managed to keep her wits about her long enough to kick the orc's sword well away from him before stabbing him repeatedly in the chest with her own little sword, slamming the blade in as deep as she could go and as often as she could while the orc screamed and shrieked beneath her. She did not stop until he grew still and silent.

She didn't think much when the orc finally died, simply leapt away from him and towards Thorin's unconscious body, her sword waving madly in front of her at the orcs who were all looking at her with stunned expressions.

Azog was the first to recover and snarled at her, coaxing his great warg to advance forward.

Bilbo slashed out with her little blade, cutting the white warg across its nose causing it to let out a hate filled growled as black oozing blood splattered the ground.

A great paw to her chest sent her flying backwards into Thorin's unconscious side and it might very well have been the end of them both if it were not for the arrival of the dwarves who had managed to pull themselves up from their precarious situation to run head-long into another situation just as hazardous and dangerous as the last.

Bilbo sagged against Thorin's side, her breath ragged as she looked at Thorin's bloody face.

"Don't you dare die!" She gasped as she tried to put pressure on one of the many wounds inflicted upon his chest from the sharp teeth of the warg, "I forbid you to die! You did not drag me over hills and under hills, across roaring rivers and under waterfalls, chased across great plains jagged by rocks, to be almost eaten on several occasions for you to go and die before this mad quest is complete! I did not put up with all your yelling and berating for you to die here and now because you were a colossal majestic _idiot_!"

She could hear the sounds of yelling, both from the dwarves and from orcs but she did not turn around to look, not until she heard her name being yelled and to look out did she turn and feel her mouth drop in disbelief as when she looked over her shoulder and saw a massive eagle swooping towards her and Thorin.

She wasn't necessarily proud of her reaction to seeing a huge eagle swooping towards her and Thorin, sharp talons outstretched.

She let out a little scream and ducked away, rolling out of the way of the huge talons, which proceeded to neatly pluck Thorin from the ground, scoping him and his sword up and before flying away.

"Wait!" Bilbo screamed before seeing that other dwarves were also being picked up by Eagles, some in their talons while others members of the company were already on the eagles backs.

Bilbo's mouth hung limp as she watched the eagles swoop back and forth, plucking up dwarves and wargs up unlike, but while the company were being pulled to safety, the wargs were simply being dropped over the side of the cliff and left to fall howling to their doom.

Bilbo, her head throbbing as she moved, picked up Thorin's oaken branch shield as she continued to watch the amazing sight around her.

That is until the moment came when she saw an Eagle swooping towards her once again and all her amazement fled from her body as she filled with the desire to simply run and hide.

"No!" Bilbo shrieked as the talons came to grab her, her sword and the oaken branch shield and started to carry her away from the cliff side only for her to be promptly dropped, a truly terrifying experience, onto the back of another eagle.

She grabbed madly for anything to hold onto, her hands buried deeply into the eagles feathers around its neck, her fingers grasping tightly at the roots. Most uncomfortable for the eagle, Bilbo was sure, but it was all that she could do to keep her from sliding off the great bird's back.

"Don't pinch!" The eagle said giving Bilbo quite a shock that had her almost falling from the great bird's back, "You need not be frightened like a rabbit, even if you rather look like one. It is a lovely night to flying is it not, with so little wind. What is finer than flying?" And Bilbo at any other time might have listed a great number of things that she thought were finer than flying but decided, or rather her stomach decided, it would be rather better for her to simply keep her mouth shut, her eyes closed and simply continue holding on for dear life.

Around her she could hear members of the company yell and gasp over the sights they were seeing as they flew away to safety – she hoped. She did not fancy becoming food – her eagle had mentioned she looked rather like a rabbit! – for these great birds, no matter how magnificent they were! – but poor Bilbo had never liked heights at the best of times. She may have climbed trees in her misspent youth but that did not mean the experiences hadn't turn her stomach every time.

She did try to peek a glance every so often to see the truly awe-inspired view of moonlight shining upon the dark forests and mountains tops below before her empty stomach would heave and she would have to bury her face back into the sleek feathers.

It was not an enjoyable flight by any means, what with her churning stomach, her hands cramping from holding on so tightly to feathers and Thorin's bloody oaken branch shield digging painfully into her ribs where she had managed to tuck it beneath her arm during the flight.

The flight seemed to last for a very long time to Bilbo, though when they finally did land, dawn was only just breaking against the horizon.

She rolled unceremoniously off of her eagle's back – who had very kindly lowered itself as close to the ground as it could manage so that when Bilbo did finally stop rolling to simply drop, the drop wasn't too far nor painful, though she was rather winded when she hit the rock.

"Thank you." She finally wheezed once she had managed to roll shakily to her feet, swaying as she did so on the spot.

The eagle seemed to look down upon her with an almost amused expression before taking off as other eagles flew down to unload dwarves upon the massive, oddly shaped rock structure that stood all by itself looking out over the land.

"Thorin!" Bilbo jumped at Gandalf frantic shout. "Thorin!"

 _Thorin…_ she twisted around on the spot, clutching the dwarf's shield close to her chest as she looked on with others of the company as Gandalf moved to the side of the still form of Thorin.

 _Oh, please… please he couldn't be dead! Please, let him live._

She watched in silent wonder as Gandalf waved a hand briefly over Thorin's bruised and bloody face all the while whispering a soft chant of power. Quenya, Bilbo was certain.

She let out a huge breath that she hadn't known she had been holding when Thorin stirred, gasping weakly for air as he struggled to sit up.

"The Halfling?"

Oh no… what had she done now? Why was she the first thing he was asking for? There were far more important things to be asking after rather than her!

She saw when she glanced around at the dwarves they were taken just as much by surprise by their leader's query as she was.

"It's all right," Gandalf looked up at her with a wide smile, "Bilbo is here. She is quite safe."

 _I don't think he cares Gandalf_ , Bilbo thought with a tight chest when she saw Thorin's face twisting into a scowl as he struggled to get to his feet. His nephews and Dwalin moved to help him, but he brushed them aside, his gaze burning hotly in her direction.

She wondered if she just threw his shield at him he might simply forget whatever it is she has done now to anger him so this time.

"You!" Oh no, he truly was angry with her this time, was he?!

She sunk further into herself as the injured dwarf took a step towards her, his face dark with a furious scowl.

"What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed! Did I not say that you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?" She tried to keep eye contact with him during his rant, she truly did, but it was so very difficult and soon enough she found herself looking dejectedly down at her feet, wishing she could just slip on the funny little ring and simply disappear.

She could hear him getting closer, his boots coming into her eye line and forced herself to meet his eyes, her nose scrunched up in a vain attempt to keep back the tears of frustration and anger.

 _Never again, am I going to try save your life!_ She thought rather brutally as she tried to scowl up at the uncaring, insufferable dwarf king who really wasn't worth all the heart fluttering he caused her.

She was just about to say something along those lines when the dwarf king proceed to knock her proverbially off of her feet, following with literally doing just that.

"I've never been so wrong in all my life." And then he pulled her into his arms, pulling her into a warm solid chest that made her feel so safe that it was amazing that this was the same dwarf that had been shouting at her only seconds before.

 _This crush you have, Bilbo dear girl, is truly getting ridiculous! He was yelling at you not a minute ago, don't you go getting all star-eyed over him just because of a hug! He's still a bastard, 'member!_ Her Took side was badgering and while Bilbo did agree that her Took side had a point, she was going to enjoy the hug while it lasted.

From around them she could hear cheering and when Thorin released her she had smiles being rained upon her by all company members.

"I am sorry I doubted you." Thorin said looking strangely red around the ears while Bilbo's whole face simply felt like it was on fire.

"Oh no," Bilbo squeaked in embarrassment, waving her hands pathetically in front of her – hands that still held Thorin's shield, which was threatening to take out people left and right with her panicked hand waving. Dwalin removed it from her hands before she could do any real damage to anyone. "No, I would have doubted me too." _In fact, I still do!_

"I'm not a hero or a warrior," She continued on, shuffling her feet and feeling so very embarrassed to be the centre of attention, "I'm not even a burglar." She added with a shrug and a weak cheeky smile that had Gandalf and a few dwarves chuckled over.

"Hey!" Kili said breaking the moment and freeing Bilbo from being centre of attention as the young boy pointed eagerly in distance, "Look at that!"

The company turned to look in the direction Kili was eagerly pointing in, at the outline of a lone, solitary peak.

"Is that…" Bilbo said softly, "is that what I think it is?"

"Erebor – The Lonely Mountain." Gandalf smiled, "The last of the great dwarf kingdoms in Middle-Earth."

"Could they, the eagles, I mean," Ori spoke in a small voice as he glanced sheepishly up at the early morning sky where the eagles still flew, "could they have not taken us the whole way?"

"Aye, would not be so great a distance for them." Gloin grunted in agreement.

"Oh no," Dori moaned, burying his face into his hands, "I would rather walk than fly again. My poor heart…"

Bilbo rather agreed with the fussy dwarf. The idea of continuing to fly on the great birds had rather made her stomach turn and her heart flip with fear.

"And walk we shall, Master Dori," Gandalf replied as he lifted a hand in farewell to the great birds, "for the eagles have done us a great service flying us as far as they have already. They will take us no further than this for there are men who would shoot them down, believing they were after their sheep."

While some dwarves grumbled over this, others like Dori and herself looked rather relieved to hear that they would be keeping their feet planted firmly on the ground from now on.

"How much food do we have on us?" Nori asked as the company fussed over packs and weapons that had not be lost to the caves and goblins. "I'm famished."

"I am nearly dead from hunger." Bilbo mumbled in agreement from where she sat rubbing her throbbing head which up until a few moments ago had had Oin fussing over it. He hadn't been able to examine her as much as he would have liked but he had at least been able to look over the cuts on her head that had been bleeding, tending to them and assuring her that she didn't need stitches, something Bilbo was rather grateful for as she was not particularly fond of needles.

The food situation proved to be rather sad one indeed, as the main pack that had held their food appeared to have been lost and any food the company might have been carrying on their person or in their own packs was mushed and crumbled beyond recognition.

"Well," Gandalf said with a deep sigh, "we have no choice. Yes, yes, no choice at all that I can see."

"Gandalf?" Bilbo asked tiredly but the wizard seemed not to hear her as he paced back and forth on top of the huge rock structure.

"Come," He called finally as he peered over the edge of the rock, "we must take our leave, for though we have left our hunters well behind, it will not be long before they catch us up once more."

The dwarves and the hobbit limped their way over to the where Gandalf stood, looking down the side of the rock structure and surprised to see what appeared to be massive stone steps carved into the side of the rock.

Bilbo frowned at them, partly because she was having to look down and was forced to see just how high up in the sky the company actually was but also because… who had carved the steps? They were massive! Far too large, she was sure for any man to have made them, so who…

"Come now, all of you. We have a long way to travel yet, and not much time to do so. Take care now."

"Gandalf who made these steps?" Bilbo asked as she carefully lowered herself onto the first step, her legs wobbling just a little.

"All in good time, my dear girl, all in good time. Now mind your feet. We cannot have you fall."

"Again." She heard Dwalin call teasingly down to her while she grimaced.

"And no wandering off either, ya hear lassie." Gloin rumbled, "Can't expect us to keep an eye on you all the time." There were several hums and grunts of agreement that made Bilbo's blood boil and caused for something deep inside of her chest to burst as she rounded upon the red bearded dwarf with the legendary Took fury, made particularly famous by both Bilbo's own mother and grandmother, who were able to shut up whole halls of rowdy hobbits with one good shout when truly aggravated.

"Wandered off! _Wandered off_!" She shrieked, hands clenched into fists at her side as her whole body shook with rage, "I DID NOT BLOODY WANDER OFF! I fell off the side of a bloody cliff after I was attacked by a goblin! AND THEN!" She shouted when she saw that Bofur had come over to her side, seemingly to try and calm her down, "I had to get into a battle of riddles with a foul creature that wanted to eat me! I barely escaped! And you bloody…" Someone caught her around the waist and lowered her down to the next step.

"DON'T!" Bilbo yelled up at Gandalf still utterly furious at the dwarves who she was all rather fed-up with. "Not in the middle of my yelling at the ungrateful, miserable sods!"

"Now is truly not the time my dear girl," Gandalf interrupted her calmly as he hopped down another step and gestured for her to follow him. "You may yell to your hearts content when we are safe and sound."

"But I'm angry now!" She ranted furiously as she grudgingly let him help her down another step, "by the time we're safe and sound, I won't be angry anymore! And all the anger inside of me right now will simply go to waste!"

"I'm sure a time will come, sooner rather than later, when the dwarves have irritated you enough that you anger will resurface and you can give them all the tongue-lashing they truly deserve.

"Oi!"

"And I can yell at them without interruption?" Bilbo asked with a huff and a pout.

"To your heart's content, I promise you." Gandalf gave her a tired smile and Bilbo took note again of his bruised face and wondered where it was he had gotten to when he disappeared during the Thunder Battle and how he had come to find the dwarves again.

"What happened to you?" She asked deciding to take the Wizard's advice and put her anger towards the dwarves aside.

"Oh, I fell off a cliff."

Bilbo stopped and glared at him, trying to decide if he was simply making fun of her.

"That's my thing," She grumbled as the wizard help her down another step, "Don't steal my thing."

Gandalf threw back his head and laughed. She might have heard the odd snigger from behind them from the usually quiet dwarves.

"Come my dear girl, we have a long way to go yet and many dangers to avoid before we can call ourselves safe. Once we are safe and sound, I will tell you my tale of finding the dwarves in the Goblin Kingdom and you can share your tale of escaping the darkness on your own."

Bilbo winced at the idea of relaying her tale about riddling with Gollum and the frightful chase that did eventually lead her back to the company, but she nodded her head in agreement and allowed for herself to be helped without complaint down the rest of the large steps.

And there was no time for any of them to truly catch their breath once they had reached the bottom of the stairs, with the most Gandalf would give them was time enough to fill their water skins and relieve themselves behind trees, before he was ordering them to run, run like their hunters were truly behind them and not many leagues away.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So _An Unexpected Journey_ is officially finished with in the fic... YAY! I've written a lot of bits and pieces here and there for DOS and TBOTFA. The next couple of chapters that cover the company's stay with Beorn have pretty much been written since February 2014.

I wrote them because I wasn't entirely, and by entirely I mean not at all, happy with how the DOS covered Beorn's section of The Hobbit. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Mikael Persbrandt as Beorn, I just felt the movie had lost the magic of that particular chapter. It also what really made me aware of just how much the movie/s were going to diverge from the book. Which in some parts was quite interesting (Gandalf journey, the white council, so on) and in others... I was just disappointed with they ended up doing, like with Queer Lodgings.

Thank you all very much for reading. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. It should not be a long wait for Chapters 14 and 15. As I said, those already been written for quite some time. I guess it will just depend on how I'm feeling and how busy my week turns out to be.


	14. Queer Lodging

**Author's Note (26/05/2018):** This chapter is pure fluff and mostly based off events in the book rather than the movie. As I said in Chapter 13's Author's Notes, pretty much everything that makes up this chapter and Chapter 15 is stuff that I wrote back in February 2014 and I wasn't overly happy with how Beorn's scenes played out in the film. The Extended Edition of DOS has pacified me a little since, but even so, I much prefer the book version of _Queer Lodging_ than I do the movie's.  
This chapter and chapter 15 were originally written as two-shot fic that I never got around to posting on the off-chance that I would ever get around to writing this fic, which now I have and here is the first part of that two-shot.

I hope very much that you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I did writing it.

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

 **Queer Lodging**

Bilbo was exhausted.

Her legs throbbed from running so hard over such uneven terrain, being chased down by wargs and orcs, all manner of foul things – And this time they didn't even have the slightest hope that any elves would be around to aid them.

It was only this thought and not wishing to be a burden to the others – and if Thorin, who had acted as a living, breathing chew toy for the huge white warg only hours ago could run, so could she! – that kept her going, stopping her from simply collapsing to the earth and never moving again.

She wasn't even sure where she was running too! Only that she was following the lead of Bofur who was following Dwalin who was following Thorin who was following Gandalf.

Her chest was burning, her sides ached with her feet threatening mutiny when they finally stopped – and she only stopped because she collided with Bofur's back and the only reason she didn't fall backwards was because Bifur was behind her and caught her as she stumbled.

"What's it?" she grumbled, rubbing her sweaty hair out of her eyes. _Hack it off! Hack it all off!_

"Wizard?" Thorin rumbled in the same breath, a slight catch to his voice as he shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other.

 _He's in pain_ , Bilbo realized dully before feeling a surge of frustration towards him. _He's just too proud and stubborn to admit it! His pride is going to get him killed one of these days! Oh wait… it already almost has!_

Gandalf d smiled back at them, clearly pleased with himself and not looking at all like he had spent whole day racing across the country side to escape the jaws of certain death.

 _Wizards!_ Bilbo thought in exhausted disgruntlement.

"We are near now," He replied cheerily.

Bilbo groaned, fighting the simple desire to simply keel over right where she stood.

"Near to what?" Kili wheezed to Bilbo's right, asking her unspoken question. She didn't have enough air in her lungs to breathe right now let alone try and speak.

Gandalf merely smiled back at them a little more widely before taking off again at a brisk walk.

"Come on lassie." Bofur said, kindly taking hold of her arm and more or less guiding her along. But at least they weren't running anymore.

She did perk up a little as they started passing through great patches of flowers.

She stared at them in amazement and at the bees that flew around them. And such bees they were. Bilbo had never seen anything quite like them.

"If one were to sting me," She said to no one in particular, "I should swell up as big again as I am."

"Then mind you do not get stung Master Baggins." Thorin called from the front of their group and Bilbo felt her whole face heat up in a hot blush.

She had not meant to be heard and certainly not by him!

"Come along, all of you," Gandalf called from the front, not looking back at them, "we are on the edge of his bee-pastures."

 **HiBtWH**

After a while they came to a belt of impressively tall and very ancient oaks, beyond which stood a high thorn-hedge that Bilbo doubted even she could scramble over without getting herself impaled upon one of those deadly thorns the hedge boasted.

"You had all better remain here for the moment," Gandalf said to their company and Bilbo was relieved at the idea of lingering with the dwarves while Gandalf went to speak with their "host", some kind of skin-changer… whatever that meant. Why did Gandalf feel the need to speak in riddles in regards to the fellow they were apparently about to barge in on?

"When I whistle begin to come after me – you will see the way I go – but only in pairs, mind, about five minutes between each of you. Bombur, if you would be so kind to come last, that would be greatly appreciated." Gandalf smiled at the large dwarf who let out a long-suffering sigh before nodding. Bilbo patted his arm, seconds away from offering to walk with him when, "Come along Master Baggins."

Bilbo stared at the wizard blankly.

"Come along where?" She asked rather stupidly as the company closed in around her. The wizard stared at them all in exasperation as he nodded his head in the direction of the hedge.

"What?" she squeaked out in protest. "Why me?"

"Because our host is not overly fond of dwarves." Gandalf grated back at her, "you, on the other hand, I feel will make him more compassionate towards our situation. He has a soft spot for small, gentle creatures."

"I am not a rabbit!" She retorted angrily but somehow she found herself walking at Gandalf side, away from the protest of their companions.

She pressed herself close to the wizard's side as they started their search for the gate that Gandalf had promised was nearby.

They soon came across a wooden gate in the hedge, high and broad, beyond which they could see a garden of like which Bilbo had never seen before and cluster of low wooden dwellings, some made of thatch and others of unshaped logs. But Bilbo took little interest in them, not when her eyes were feasting upon the sight of flowers, vegetables and herbs.

A garden, a proper garden!

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath inwards, her lungs filling with all the smells that she missed so dearly from home.

"Come along Bilbo." Gandalf said, not unkindly as they moved through the gate and down the wide track that led towards a long low wooden house.

Half way along the track they were greeted by some horses. Beautiful creatures they were too, very sleek and well-groomed, trotting towards them across the rich green grass, looking at them intently with long, intelligent faces.

Bilbo was just reaching out her hand towards one of the creature only for them to suddenly gallop off towards the house.

"Do not take offense Bilbo," Gandalf said as Bilbo's hand quickly dropped sheepishly to her side, "they have simply gone to inform their master of the arrival of strangers."

"Oh," Bilbo said still feeling quite sheepish and embarrassed.

They continued along the trail – Bilbo frequently having to fight down the desire to stop and smell some of the glorious flowers that grew alongside the path – and soon they reached a courtyard, three walls of which were formed by the wooden house and its two long wings.

In the middle there stood a great oak-trunk with many lopped branches. Standing near it was the largest man Bilbo had ever seen in all her life.

He was a huge man with thick black beard and hair, great arms and legs that were knotted with brown muscles. He was clothed only in a simple tunic made of wool that fell to his knees.

Bilbo tried not blush at his lack of clothing; a silly thing really to be embarrassed over after everything she had been through in the last few months and instead focused upon his large axe that would cause even Dwalin and Thorin a moment of pause before they tried to attack him.

The horses stood beside him with their noses pressing against his massive arms.

"Ugh! So here they are!" The huge man said to the horses, speaking as if they understood him. For all Bilbo knew, maybe they could. She had all but given up trying to understand the strangeness of other races in the large and rather unforgiving world outside the Shire.

"They don't look dangerous. Off with you." The huge man laughed a great rolling laugh, setting down his great axe before striding towards them.

"Who are you and what do you want?" He asked with a much gruffer voice than the one he had used with his horses.

He towered above Gandalf and if Bilbo had truly wanted to (and she certainly did not!) she could have quite easily trotted through the huge man's legs without even needing to duck her head to miss the fringe of the man's simple tunic.

"I am Gandalf."

"Never heard of him," The man growled and Bilbo's heart immediately sank. Her heart sank right down to her furry toes when the big man looked down upon her, "And what is this little lass?"

She tried not to tremble as he came to stoop down before her, looking into her face with a frown.

"This is Mistress Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit of good family and unimpeachable reputation. Bilbo, this is Beorn." Gandalf said putting a gentle hand on her shoulder as she gave the huge man a rather clumsy curtsy.

"I am a wizard," Gandalf continued as calmly as if he were discussing the weather. It was only when Bilbo noticed how tightly he was holding his staff did she understand just how truly nervous the wizard actually was, "and while you have not heard of me, I have heard of you. Maybe you have heard of a fellow wizard, Radagast who lives near the Southern borders of Mirkwood."

"Aye, I know him. Not a bad fellow as wizards go." Beorn rumbled gruffly, "Now, I know who you are or who you say you are and you know who I am. What do you want?"

"To tell you the truth, we've faced a good deal of bad luck. We have lost all of our luggage and nearly our way, and are rather in need of help. Or at the very least some advice and maybe directions. I may say we have had a rather bad time with goblins in the mountains."

"Goblins?" The big man said a little less gruffly, a spark of curiosity entering his yellow-ish eyes. "What did you go near them for? Stupid thing to do."

"You are absolutely right." Gandalg agreed readily, "It was quite by accident, we had no plan to go near them at all. They caught us quite by surprise during the night in a pass which we had hoped to cross. We are travelling out of the Lands over West into these countries… it is quite a long tale."

Bilbo fought to keep a straight face for while Gandalf sounded tired and weary, she could also see that his intelligent eyes were keenly watching Beorn who seemed to be growing more curious with each word Gandalf spoke.

"Well," Beorn said after a moment's thought, "you had better come inside and tell me some of it, if it won't take all day."

He turned to lead them out of the courtyard.

Once their host's back was turned, Gandalf gave her a sly wink and despite the fear that still rolled around her belly she managed to give him a small smile in return before they followed after Beorn.

He led them out of the courtyard and up onto a sort of veranda propped up on wooden posts made of single tree-trunks. Here they sat upon wooden benches and Gandalf began his tale, Bilbo swinging her legs beside him as she looked out over the flowers in the garden, recognising some while wondering what the names were of the ones she did not know.

"I was coming over the mountains with a friend or two…" Bilbo heard Gandalf begin to say and fought not to snort as she saw exactly what the wizard was trying to do, a similar tactic to the one at her home all those months ago, when she had dwarves arriving upon her door in numbers of twos and threes instead of simply having all thirteen (and Gandalf) rolling up on her door step at once and her immediately slamming her door on the lot of them.

Maybe…

In all truths, she wasn't sure if she would have done so, slammed her door in their faces, even if all they had all arrived at the same time.

"Or two?" Beorn grunted in response, his strange beast-like eyes narrowing as he glanced in her direction, "I can only see one, and a little one at that."

She blushed when the Beorn gave her a smile, discovering with some shock that when he smiled he did not look quite so fearsome as when he frowned. Sort of like Thor…

 _No_ , she gave her head a tiny shake, but her cheeks still grew warmer all the same.

"Well to tell you the truth, I did not like to bother you with a lot of us, until I found out if you were busy. I will give a call, if I may?"

"Go on, call away." Beorn rumbled, waving a great paw at Gandalf who after a brief nod, let out a long shrill whistle and after a moment, Thorin and Balin came around the house by the garden and stood bowing low before them.

Thorin hadn't looked overly keen to do so, but a discreet elbow to the ribs from Balin had him bending his head respectively towards Beorn.

"One or three you meant, I see!" Beorn snorted, "but these aren't hobbits," And was it simply Bilbo's imagination or did she hear a hint of disappointment to his tone? "These are dwarves!" And he most definitely didn't sound please about it either.

Bilbo bit down hard upon her lower lip as Beorn and Thorin glared at each other. Another elbow to his ribs from Balin had Thorin introducing himself threw gritted teeth.

"Thorin Oakenshield, at your service."

"And Balin, at your service also." Balin echoed a moment later and the two bowed again.

"I don't need your service," Beorn retorted gruffly, "but I expect you need mine. I'm not over fond of dwarves; but if it is true that you are Thorin Oakenshield, and that your companion are respectable, and that you are enemies of goblins and not up to any mischief in my lands," Beorn paused for a moment turning his attention away Thorin and Balin and turn back to Gandalf, his eyebrows pressed together, "what are you up to, by the way?"

Bilbo tried to move from Gandalf side so that Thorin could sit by the wizard, but quickly found that she could not do so due to Gandalf holding her gently in place, pushing her maybe a little forward so that she could be more easily seen by the huge man.

She shot Thorin an apologetic look before blushing as he sat down beside her on the bench.

She bowed her head and stared down at her hands clasped in her lap, trying to calm her warm cheeks.

Why was she reacting like this? Yes, the dwarf still made her incredibly nervous, like any wrong move she made might have him snapping at her, but… oh no, it was the hug, wasn't it? Oh, it had to be that for he hadn't said or done anything that would otherwise make her feel nervous or embarrassed. In fact, he hadn't so much as glared once in her direction since the hug...

 _Doesn't mean anything_ , she told herself firmly but even so, thinking that did not stop her cheeks from burning nor calm down her embarrassment.

She was so caught up with her embarrassment that she missed the next part Gandalf's tale only coming back to herself when he whistled again.

She jumped and almost toppled off of the bench, and the only reason she didn't do just that was due to Thorin catching the back of her battered coat and dragged her back onto the bench, which set her cheeks flaming all over again and she was left in the same mess that she had been in moments before, if not in a slightly worst state.

She had just resettled herself on the bench when Dwalin and Dori appeared. They were just starting to bow, when they were waved away by Beorn, who simply requested their names before telling them to sit themselves down.

And so on this went, Gandalf would tell a bit more of their tale before stopping, give a whistle and two more dwarves would appear, told to give their name before sitting down.

 _It truly quite clever_ , Bilbo thought with wry admiration, _what Gandalf was doing_. The way the wizard told their story, with the interruptions of dwarves, arriving two by two, kept Beorn interested and not simply sending them away as if they were suspicious beggars.

By the time the wizard had finished their tale, the sun was falling behind the peaks of the Misty Mountains and shadows were long in Beorn's garden.

"A very good tale." Beorn boomed, snapping Bilbo from where she had been dozing against Thorin's shoulder, "the best I have heard for a long while. If all beggars could tell such a good one, they might find me kinder. You may be making it all up, of course, but you deserve a supper for the story all the same. The little one looks as if she will fade to nothing if we don't give her some warm bread and honey." It took Bilbo a moment to realise that the huge man was talking about her.

She rubbed a hand over her eyes, brushing sleep from them before blinking shyly up at the large man who was peering down at her with a soft look.

Still feeling a bit sleepy, she paid little heed to the fact that she had been dozing against Thorin's shoulder for a good amount of time (and he had let her!) and slide off the bench to the dirt path, breathing in deeply the smell of dusk and well-tilled earth.

"Come along little one," Beorn beckon to her and after a hesitating for a moment she followed after the big man towards his home.

 **HiBtWH**

Once inside the huge hall Beorn's home, Bilbo was quick to forget her tiredness when a tiny scream escaped her lips as she jumped backwards as several dogs trotted about the hall on their hind-legs carrying trays laden heavy with food upon their fore-feet.

She pressed a hand to her pounding chest, gasping for air.

She looked wildly around at her companions, hoping that they were seeing the same thing as her and that she hadn't simply finally lost her mind. Given their expression, they too (thankfully) were seeing the extraordinary sight as well.

She felt a small pressure on her back, gently pushing her forward towards the central hearth and the tables that stood around it.

Bilbo was quite pleased by how low these tables were; low enough for her even to sit comfortably. Beorn sat at the head of the table in a big black chair with Thorin and Gandalf sat on either side of him.

And there they had supper.

A supper like which they had not had since they had left the Last Homely House in the West. It was a meal made of many autumn fruits and berries, bread and cheese and honey, so much honey that Bilbo felt her heart might burst.

Only thing that was missing and she supposed it wouldn't really fit in with the meal anyway, was some grilled mushrooms. But she kept that thought to herself and simply went about eating her weight in honey and bread, cheese and fruit.

All the time they ate, Beorn spoke to them in his deep rolling voice, telling them tales of the wild lands on this side of the mountains, especially of the dark and dangerous woods, the terrible forest of Mirkwood that barred their way to the East.

From either side of her, the dwarves listened and shook their heads and Bilbo sighed knowing that even with the warnings from their large host, her company would still venture into the woods, for better or worse, to achieve their goal of reaching the Lonely Mountain.

Once supper was finished and the plates cleared away – by the dogs who could walk on their hind-legs. Bilbo managed not to scream at them this time when they came near her – the dwarves started telling tales of their own.

Bilbo, having heard them all before, laid her head upon the table, her exhaustion having once more caught up to her and now that her belly was comfortably full she was quite ready for bed.

With her eyes heavy with sleep she watched as Beorn got up from his great chair – he seemed to have very little interest in the stories the dwarves were speaking of, which seemed to involve a lot of gold – and left his hall without a word.

She wondered if the dwarves, Thorin in particular, had taken offense to their host abrupt departure but from the looks of things they had not.

She jumped only a little when she felt gentle hands touching her shoulders, a soft voice – Bofur's – speaking in her ear that it was time for bed, up she got.

She didn't even bother opening her eyes as Bofur, with his arms wrapped around her waist and her head leaning against his shoulder, guided her along. She trusted Bofur would not lead her into any walls or let her trip up – and just because she stumped her toes once on a doorframe was nothing to blame on him.

She grumbled just a little when he helped get her pack off her back and coat off before allowing her to simply collapse onto one of the softest beds Bilbo had had the chance to lie in. With a content little sigh she snuggled in, ignoring the snorts of amusement that came from Bofur somewhere close by.

She had fallen into such a deep sleep that when she woke with a start at the sounds of growling outside the hall, there were no other sounds around her – with the exception of the dwarves snoring, which from hearing it so often Bilbo was now able to tune the noise out.

She sat upright, her heart pounding at the sounds of growling and the snuffling of some great animal outside.

Bilbo wondered if she should wake the others before remembering that whatever it was that was going on outside could very well be Beorn. This thought she quickly discovered didn't comfort her at all.

Whimpering and feeling like a complete coward, she pulled her blanket up and over her head, praying quietly that Beorn in his bear shape would not descend upon them during the night and kill them all. Somehow, even with that thought running through her head, she was able to once more fall asleep again.

 **HiBtWH**

"Don't you think we should go and wake her up?" Ori asked as he chomped on a piece of bread, his dark eyes flickering in the direction of the doorway to the room they had spent the night in.

"Let her sleep." Ori had been speaking to his older brother so he jumped and looked sheepishly towards his King who had answered him. Normally Thorin would not intrude into a conversation that was in regards to the company burglar, but upon her saving his life only a matter of days ago from Azog, he apparently thought she was worth thinking of.

Ori gave his hand a small pinch for thinking poorly of his king, but then he had always felt that his king had treated Bilbo rather unkindly, right from the start, and even when everyone else was starting to warm to her and she truly started becoming one of them, Thorin had still made a point of keeping his distance from her.

Ori snuck a look at Dori who appeared to be agreeing with their king and was giving him a firm look to leave the burglar be.

"Don't ya worry laddie." Bofur said from across the table, "the lassie will wake when she's hungry."

"But it's almost mid-day!" Ori couldn't help but protest, "she's never slept so long!"

"Never had the chance." Nori muttered beside him before ruffling his hair and saying more loudly, "She'll be more upset if you wake her up than she be waking herself. Let her sleep. She'll wake up soon. You see."

And so Ori did.

Almost fifteen minutes later, their burglar was peering out of the room they had all slept in the night before, her fingers running through the tangle mat of curls that were usually hidden under a hood or shoved into one of those awful buns that she wore at the nap of her neck. It was down now and even though it was tangled, her hair was truly lovely. So very curly.

 _And the colour of sunshine upon autumn leaves_ , Ori thought poetically.

He was fighting back a pout when she unceremoniously started twisting the locks into the usual knot at the back of her throat as she came to sit by Bofur who offered her some bread and honey. She ate that quietly enough before she brow creased and she looked up and down the table in confusion.

"Where's Gandalf?"

Ori and a few others blinked at her before looking around themselves, startled to find that yet again the blasted wizard had given them the slip.

"Out and about, Master Baggins. And the same goes for our host." Thorin finally answered the hobbit, who looked as startled as the rest of them at him answering her question, not that it was much of answer, but still.

She looked in confusion at Bofur who simply knocked his fist lightly against her forehead and told her to keep eating and not to worry her pretty head.

She had thumped his shoulder for that one but had continued eating as she had been told.

 **HiBtWH**

Gandalf reappeared soon after sunset, looking exhausted but otherwise pleased with himself. Bilbo was the first to come to his side, hands on her roundish hips and huffing up at him.

"And where have you been all day?" She demanded, looking and sounding every bit like a dwarrowdam mother that she had Kili and Fili stopping fast in whatever mischief that they might have been plotting at the other end of the table.

Gandalf, however, appeared to be immune to such looks and tones for he simply chuckled as he walked by her, "you look just like your mother, my dear girl."

Ori watched as Bilbo pulled a face before she fell in step with the wizard, more like a jog because her legs were so short.

"Now, don't give me that. Where have you been? And where is our host, might I add?" For a moment she looked a tad worried, glancing over her shoulder nervously as if she feared that their host might suddenly appear in the door way of the hall.

"One question at a time, my dear girl and if you wish for my tale, please allow me some much needed food first." Sighing heavily, their burglar went about getting Gandalf a plate of food and a jug of mead. Given the amused look on the Wizard's face he would have been fine with getting his own food for himself but since the hobbit lass was doing it for him, he wasn't about to complain.

He ate everything that Bilbo set in front of him, plus some more, with the lass watching him as closely as any mother worth her salt would watch her most troublesome child to check they had not gone about creating any mischief.

Not for the first and probably not for the last time either, Ori wondered how it was that Bilbo wasn't married, with children.

Maybe she still considered a bit young to be married by her race, he thought, though he wasn't exactly sure of her age. Actually he was certain that no one, aside from maybe Gandalf, knew Bilbo's exact age.

Or maybe she had simply chosen not to marry at all, something that was not uncommon for dwarrowdams. Though, even dwarrowdams who had chosen that they did not wish to marry sometimes did choose still to have children, and Ori was rather certain that Bilbo would be a wonderful mother. She was so warm and loving. Exactly how he imagined a mother to be like which was why he probably allowed for her to fuss over him more than say Kili and Fili did.

Her fussing was so very different from Dori's and she was so sweet and kind to him that he simply wanted to spend time with her, ask for her opinion on this or that, ask if she like whatever he had drawn or knitted – and she always gushed over whatever it was he had done, proclaiming it to be beautiful or creative, smiling widely at him and telling him he should be proud of his talents.

He wondered if anyone else had such thoughts about Bilbo, about her kindness and warmth, before pushing the thought very quickly away, knowing that if he ever voiced his mind he would be opening a can of worms that for the time being was better off left closed and stuff to the bottom of the fishing basket.

 **HiBtWH**

Once Gandalf had finished his meal, pushing his plate and mug away and pulled out his pipe and lit it, he went into the details of his day.

Apparently he had spent his day tracking bear-tracks and there had been more than one; little bears, large bears, ordinary bears, and gigantic big bears had apparently been dancing outside last night to nearly dawn.

As they listened, Ori noted that Bilbo had lost all colour in her usually rosy cheeks and she looked almost faint, a look he hadn't seen from her in good many weeks.

Gandalf then went on to describe how the tracks had taken him all over Beorn's lands and almost all the way back to that horrible cliff were they had all almost fallen to their death, if they weren't burnt alive or eaten by Wargs first, and Bilbo had finally been able to show Thorin how truly brave she was by saving him from Azog.

They sat around the wizard in silence, chewing over his words until finally Bilbo squeaked.

"But… but what if Beorn and the other bears bring them here?" She squeaked, her brown eyes wide and her cheeks pale. No one needed to ask her who 'they' were.

"How do you know that that isn't what he is doing right now? You weren't sure before we got here if he was friend or foe to us? You implied as much. How are you sure now if he is our friend? Are you? We might be sitting here, all nice and comfortable, when there are orcs and wargs surrounding us, waiting to…" Gandalf held up a hand to stop her and she fell immediately silent, albeit reluctantly.

Gandalf chewed on his pipe for a long while as he looked their burglar up and down which of course caused her to fidget.

Ori had noticed that she was never particularly happy with being the centre of attention, probably because the times she was the centre of attention it was usually during or after something bad had happened and she was about to be yelled at by Thorin.

"I think," Gandalf said after a long while of chewing on his pipe, "I may have left you alone for a little too long with these fellows. I did not think their suspicious nature would rub off on you quite so quickly as it obviously has." He didn't sound disappointed, simply resigned.

"Not suspicious." Bilbo replied quietly, "simply being cautious."

"Smart lass." Dwalin rumbled with approval. "She has a point wizard."

Gandalf gave the hobbit lass a hard look before sighing.

"A point she does have, but one that is not correct. Beorn is our host. And while he is not overly fond of dwarves, his hates orcs and wargs far more. We are safe here." He reached out and pressed a gentle hand upon Bilbo's shoulder, "we are safe, I promise. No one will be harmed while we are inside this house."

After a small moment, Bilbo nodded. There was a bit of an awkward silence before Balin, as was usually his way, broke it with a tale which quickly lighten the mood and filled the air with cheer. Bilbo stayed around for some of the tale and singing but quickly disappeared back into the sleeping room once Gandalf had taken himself off into a corner to smoke his pipe in silence.

 **HiBtWH**

"So here you all are still!" the dwarves and their hobbit were all woken the next morning by their host's booming voice. Those who hadn't been completely woken up by Beorn's voice were sure to find themselves fully awake by the squeals of the hobbit as she was picked right out of bed and up into Beorn's arms as if she was a small child.

"Not eaten up by Wargs or goblins or wicked bears yet I see." Beorn was saying to the now soundless burglar. Those who were fully awake could see that she was simply staring at Beorn, her mouth gapping a little. She did let out a little squeal of indignation when Beorn poked her belly with a large brown finger,

"Little bunny is getting nice and fat again on bread and honey," Beorn was saying to the lass as they left the room, "come and have some more."

After a moment of simply trying to process what had just happened, which appeared to be that their burglar had just been kidnapped by man who turned into a bear as a favourite pastime, before with a nod of the head from Thorin they flung themselves out of the room.

Of course, they quickly found their burglar and their host and their wizard easily enough, sitting at the table for breakfast, Bilbo cheeks a glorious red colour from where she was sitting by Beorn, who appeared to be inquiring about how well she had slept and other simple morning pleasantries.

"I think he likes her." Kili said finally when Beorn let out booming laugh after he had received his first proper smile from the little lass.

"Hush lad." Dori muttered but Ori could see his older brother was worried… for one reason or another, Ori had learnt to simply not bother wondering what upset his older brother at times. It usually ended up being more trouble than it was worth.

They had just settled down into a nice groove for breakfast when the topic of a bath for Bilbo was brought up.

It was only brought to the attention of the dwarves was only because apparently Beorn never bathed inside, preferring cold streams to hot water to wash himself in and the only place that had the means to easily fill up a tub was here in the hall where the fire pit was.

Before the dwarves had truly understood what was happening, Bilbo's little stuttering protest did not help any of them solve the puzzle of what had gotten her work up this time. Even when the tub was rolled in and filled with water, none of their brains clicked on to what was going on.

Bilbo had all but given up her protest by now and simply appeared resigned to whatever was happening as a screen was set up around the tub at one end of the room. She did send an imploring look at Gandalf who simply chuckled before she let out a huff, politely took the linen from one of Beorn's sheep before disappearing behind the cloth screen.

It was only when they heard a splash and Bilbo's gasp of delight did they realise their Halfling was having a bath. Not that any of them had time to dwell on that for very long because she was out again in less than ten minutes, clothes thrown hastily on, hair wet and tangled and half wrapped in a cloth wrapping before she disappeared into the garden.

"Interesting little bunny." Beorn comment after a moment

"That she is." Gandalf agreed whole-heartedly, "Very sweet but also very shy, but then that is her peoples nature when they step out of their homeland. They are a simple folk with a great love of plants and all things that grow. Her land is by far one of the greenest in all of Middle-Earth."

"And she is known as a hobbit?" Beorn asked.

"Yes, or Halfling but hobbit is consider the proper term, the name that they prefer to call themselves."

"If they anything like her," Beorn rumpled, "I think the world could do with a few more of them."

"Oh, yes," Kili whispered to the rest of the company, "I really think he likes her."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** See, a very fluffy, very loosely based off of the book chapter. Again, nothing truly against the DOS take of Queer Lodging or Mikael Persbrandt performance, I just very much prefer the book's take of events.


	15. Flower Crown of Spinsterhood

**Chapter 15**

 **Flower Crown of Spinsterhood**

Bilbo lay out on the grass outside Beorn's house, beneath a huge apple tree, eyes closed.

She wasn't asleep; she was simply lying quietly, listening to the wind, the buzz of the bees around her, the soft footfalls of Beorn's animals moving about the garden. She could not hear the dwarves or Gandalf so it was easy enough to pretend that she was not thousands upon thousands of leagues away from home.

With her eyes closed, her nose filled with the smells of fresh grass, well-turned soil and late-blooming flowers, with only the sounds of the wind and animals filling her ears, she could almost pretend that she was back, safe and sound, in the Shire. That she was lying underneath the great tree that grew atop of Bag End.

But all too soon reality came knocking upon her quiet peace and she sensed rather than felt that dusk was drawing near.

Reluctantly she opened her eyes and sat up slowly and stared about the garden that no hobbit worth their salt would allow to grow around their home. Not because of it's lack of flowers, or vegetables or trees even but rather because it had an over abundances of these things.

There was no order to what grew in this garden, everything grew wherever it wanted to grow, with only Beorn's animals – and possibly Beorn himself, but Bilbo found it hard to imagine the giant man gardening – keeping the grass and weeds under any kind of manageable control.

She sighed and ran a hand through her tangled curls. It still startled her just how much her hair had grown in the past few months.

She winced as her fingers became caught in her curls, remembering her previous temptation to hack the locks off with her little blade as she had no proper scissors on hand but she had yet to find the time to do so.

She sat for a few moments, running her fingers through her hair, pulling and tugging at the knots until her locks remembered that they once curled and waved around her shoulders.

She wrinkled her nose, silently cursing herself for not brushing her hair right after her bath but she had been so embarrassed by the fact that she had only a curtain between her and the rest of company, all of whom were _male_ , she hadn't thought any further than getting herself undressed, into the tub, washed to a respectable standard, before getting out, dressing herself in record time before shooting out the nearest door into Beorn's garden with a piece of cloth to towel her hair dry. That piece of cloth now lay on the ground where her head had previously laid, having acted as her pillow for a good chunk of the afternoon.

The sun was not quite ready to set yet and she wasn't quite ready to re-join her companions just yet – nor their huge host – so with a quiet, calm air about her, she wandered over to the nearest flower bed and started to pluck at the various blooms.

Once she had picked a sufficient amount, she sat back beneath the tree and in the fading sunlight; she weaved a bridal wreath for no other reason than she simply wished to.

It reminded her of home and she wasn't quite ready to let go of that feeling just yet. And there was just something about placing the wreath upon her head that made her feel safe and loved, despite being thousand upon hundreds of leagues away from the one place where the wreath actually meant something.

With the wreath placed upon her head, her clothes brushed down and looking as respectable as they possible could in their current ruined state, the towel folded over one arms, she felt ready to join the company once more.

Even so, she still needed to take a deep breath to steady herself as she jumped up the huge steps to Beorn's porch, a sheep meeting her there and after a bit of confusion, took the towel from her before it wandered off to do whatever it was that sheep did when trying to get away from slow and idiotic guests.

Now on the porch, she could hear her companions from wherever they were within Beorn's house. They were nowhere near as loud or as boisterous as they had been when they had been staying with the elves. Actually, considering their behaviour during their stay in Rivendell, this was almost polite and respectful for them.

At least, she guessed so, for she had never seen them within their own halls, but she was sure that how they were currently acting would have to be close to how they would behave in their own homes.

She found them in the long hall that they had dined in the night before and for lunch earlier that day before her bath.

She wondered idly if she could simply sneak in and sit herself beside Bifur before any of them noticed when Bofur happened to glance in her direction at that exact moment, his face splitting into a wide smile.

"All hail Bilbo, Queen of the Halflings." He cried and she fought hard to control her blush as the rest of the company snapped to look in her direction. Her hand rose to her head, self-consciously touching the wreath still nestled in her curls.

Should she take it off? And why had Bofur gone and called her queen for? She was sure that this would only go on to irritate Thorin in some way and she had so wanted to stay on good terms with their leader for a long as possible before he went back to thinking of her as a waste of space, some useless piece of baggage that no one could quite remember why they were bringing along with them but continued to do so if only because it would infuriate a certain wizard if they were to try and discard it.

With this in mind she glanced nervously towards where Thorin was sitting, a little too near to her for her liking, with Balin and Dwalin (of course) sitting on either side of him, both looking at her with their usual looks of amusement.

Both found her amusing, in their own very different ways. Balin had always been kind and affectionate with his amusement towards her while Dwalin had always been blunt and upfront that he found her bloody hilarious and liked having her around for pure entertainment sake.

She waited in nervous silence for Thorin to start chiding her for being so silly as weaving flowers into her hair and for allowing someone to call her a queen and so on. But the dwarf did no such thing; he didn't even scowl at her… well, no more than usual. He simply looked her up and down before shrugging and turned away, leaving her feeling a little breathless and embarrassed before she bolted over to sit between Bofur and Bombur, smacking her fist against Bofur's shoulder as she did so, before she tucked into the bread and honey that Bombur kindly offered her to try and appease her temper.

Their host and Gandalf appeared a short time afterwards and surprisingly, their host called upon her to speak with him. Though not quite so graciously as that, it was more along the lines, of 'Little Bunny has eaten her fill, now she can come and tell me of her green lands,' and her blushing as bright as ripe tomato at being addressed as 'little bunny', which had caused more than a few snickers around the table – she managed to thump at least five of the company who had laughed at her new nickname, giving a few in particular a warning glare as an extra measure, letting them all know that this was not a name that she would not tolerate under any circumstances. She gave Kili's ear a particularly hard pinch, knowing that the youngest prince at times needed extra persuasion when it came to NOT doing something.

She moved shyly to the great man's side at the head of the table, trying not to squeak as he lifted her up to sit upon his great wooden chair beside him.

It took a bit of time for her voice to drop to its usual octave but the more she spoke of home, the more she forgot about her unusual situation and Beorn seemed to be so genuinely interested in her homeland that she found herself quickly becoming comfortable at his side despite his huge presence and the small detail that he could turn himself into a huge bear at night if he so wished.

She had quite forgot herself when she reached the explanation as to why she had decided to join Thorin's quest, forgetting that she hadn't actually told any of her present company – beside from Gandalf who already knew her reasons for wanting to leave the Shire for a time – the exact facts as to why she had left her home.

In her defence, none of them had ever actually asked her why she had decided to leave her home so suddenly. But still, she did, all the same, feel rather bad when she heard the sounds of several dwarves gagging on their milk when she revealed that she had been due to be married on the day that she had left to join their quest.

" _Married_!"

She looked sheepishly back at her companions, every single one of them looking at her with slack jaw expressions. Even Thorin, which and she would never admit this out loud on pains of Thorin's scowling at her for every single moment of every single day for the rest of her life, made him look quite adorable.

"Well," she stuttered back quickly, "I was meant to be married. I didn't though… get married I mean. Obviously."

"But-but you were meant to." Dear, sweet Ori replied looking so sweetly bewildered.

"Well, yes I was but I didn't want to be. Married I mean."

"Why?" She was asked this by several dwarves and she felt her cheeks heat up once more.

"Well, I um, I just didn't wish to be. I've never been interested in marriage, not at any point in my life." She glanced at Gandalf who was looking back at her with a twinkle in his eye from over his cup of tea.

"What about the bloke?" Fili asked head cocked to one side, Kili nodding eagerly at his side. Bilbo felt her face snap into the automatic scowl that any thoughts concerning one Lotho Sackville-Baggins provoked.

"What about him?" she asked back, a little more tersely than she would have liked. She felt immediately awful when Kili and Ori shrank a little back in their seats at her tone.

"Didn't ya like him?" Nori asked since Fili had clearly lost his nerve to continue on with his questioning after her terse reply to his first query.

"Not particularly. He didn't like me much either, so the feeling was mutual."

"Why?" This was Bofur and Bilbo felt like strangling him. Hardly a new desire in regards to this particular dwarf and she was certain that she would be feeling this desire on numerous occasions for the rest of their acquaintances.

"I don't know…" Actually that was a lie, and she knew it. He had told her often enough why they were not a good match and that he was only going through with the whole marriage because firstly his miserable bat of a mother was making him and secondly he would be able to move in and possibly inherit her splendid home. However predicting that this answer would only create an opening for more questions instead of stopping them, she continued with a frustrated air about her.

"Because I am too bossy, too set in my ways. I prefer solitude and the company of books over the company of family and friends. I like doing things my own way, including taking care of my father's money and lands. If I were married, in particular if I were married to the fellow that everyone wished me to marry, I would all but lose my independence. I would not be able to do things my way; I would have to stay at home, have lots of hobbit children and be bored out my mind, all the while forced to act as the perfect little wife for bloody Lotho Sackville-Baggins. And I very much I doubt I would make a very good wife… to anyone." She added crankily ignoring the open mouth looks she was being given by her dwarf companions.

"Then why was the little bunny to marry this Lotho fellow?" Beorn asked causing her to jump a little. She had quiet forgotten about him, as impossible as that may seem.

"Oh well, you see my father. He, um," Thinking of her dear papa made her chest ache. Was he missing her? Did he even know that she was gone? Did he remember her leaving and why she left? Or was he frighten, not knowing where she was or why she had left him? Was he still even breathing?

"My father, he isn't, you see, very," she took a deep breath as she looked up into the great man's gentle face, "My father has the mind-sickness and he… he forgets things, um, very easily or he simply doesn't recall certain facts about a person at times. Or he worries himself overly much over… anything. Or he simply… fades away for a time. Anyway," she shook herself, reminding herself that she was side-tracking from the purpose of her explanation, "my father has moments where he realises that he will not be in the world for too much longer and he starts to worry about me being left all on my own and he decides that he must see me married before he passes. The first couple of times he allowed for me to choose my own husband, only I never did and this last time…" She bit her lower lip with a small sigh. "this last time… I don't know, I suddenly found myself arranged to be married to Lotho and no matter what I said, to anyone, I just couldn't seem to talk my way out of it and then…" She smiled off into the distance as she remembered her papa's relieved expression at the knowledge that she would no longer be alone when he died, "I just stopped. My father was happy, my family… at least on my father's side were happy, so I just swallowed my words and allowed for the wedding to be planned."

"Despite Little Bunny not being happy."

She shrugged.

"It made my father happy." She replied picking at his old red coat. "Unlike this." She added with a snort, "My running off on an adventure would never make him happy. I think the only reason he let me go was because Gandalf," and she looked over at the grey wizard as she spoke, "had a word or two with him the night before." The wizard simply raised an innocent eyebrow at her to which she rolled her eyes at.

"What about the Lotho fellow?" Dori asked gently.

"Um," she thought for a moment, "probably threw a temper-tantrum when he heard that I was seen running through Hobbiton, crying that I was going on an adventure. But it doesn't matter, either way, he and his family only agreed to marry me so that they could get their hands on my lovely hobbit hole. They – he was never interested in marrying me."

"Why not?" She was surprised by just how outraged her dwarves sounded. She gave them an amused grin.

"Why?" She chortled, "Because I'm so very bossy for one thing, a born spinster for another. Too independent and set in my ways. I truly would be a terrible wife. And," she shrugged her shoulders, "I suppose I'm not considered very pretty."

"Says WHO?" she rolled her eyes at their outrage.

"The Shire. Well," she relented, "Hobbiton mainly. I have too much of my father in me, not enough of my mother. I got very little of her beauty and all of my father's awkward angles and curves." She shrugged, she was well and truly over being upset over the fact that she had received very little of her mother's beauty and grace.

"It does not matter either here or there now," She spoke over their still angry babbling, "as to when I return to the Shire, Lotho will have probably found himself a pretty, very proper hobbit lass and I will be able to return to how I have always been; to my books and garden and taking care of my father and his affairs."

She smiled a little blissfully at thought of her home before shaking herself free of the thought with the sharp reminder that they still had a very long way to go before Erebor was retaken and the dwarves gold reclaimed. There was still a dauntingly huge forest and a dragon in the way before their quest was even near completion.

"They will not try to make you marry upon your return?" Bilbo looked, rather startled, in Thorin's direction who had been up until now completely silent threw the whole discussion.

"Doubtful," she replied slowly, fighting down a wave of shyness and possibly the start of a blush she truly wish she could be rid of, "I mean, there were very few lads who wished to marry me before this venture. Lotho only agreed because he would gain the rights to my hobbit-hole. But now, now I will be considered far too unrespectable and possibly even a little mad by some folk that I won't have to ever worry ever again about anyone coming around sniffing for my hand. Of course, that doesn't mean that there won't be those still trying to find a way to get my house, but marriage is most definitely out of the cards now." She smiled at the thought of never having to worry about fighting off unwanted suitors, hoping for a chance at getting into her beautiful home.

"I'm sure that not all the lads were just interested in getting your home." Balin offered his tone gentle and reassuring.

"Oh," she gave a small wave of her hand, "I'm sure there were a couple of Brandybuck and Took lads who were actually interested in marrying me, for well, me. But like I said, I've never been interested in the idea of marriage to begin with. It doesn't bother me being by myself like it would other hobbit lasses. I chose the life of a spinster and I'm quite content to remain living my life as one for the rest of my days."

 _However long that is_ , she added quietly, wincing mentally as she thought yet again of the dragon that was supposedly waiting for them at the end of their journey.

She watched several members of the company shaking their head, in wonderment, bewilderment or simply exasperated by her actions, she did not know but she was used to this general reaction whenever she spoke out about her views of marriage and spinsterhood, so she took no offence.

"How old does one have to be to be considered a spinster in the Shire?" Dori asked looking puzzled.

"I'm actually," she admitted feeling a little sheepish, "still a bit young to be considered a spinster, but as I set myself on the shelf when I was twenty-nine, I've just always considered myself one and so has basically everyone else."

She noticed Balin wincing and wondered what had caused him to do so when he asked her just how old she actually was.

Privately thinking that it may just be better for all involved, she answered that she was forty, instead of admitting that she was thirty-nine for another few months.

Again, she was witness to the sight of dwarves gagging upon their cups of milk. It wasn't a very pleasant sight at all.

"WIZARD!" She startled out of her disgust by just how many angry looks were now being directed in Gandalf directions. The wizard even looked a little on edge. Not much, but a little as he took in the angry expression of thirteen dwarves.

"Hobbit's come of age at thirty-three." He replied simply as he lit his pipe and started smoking away, blowing impressive smoke rings around the hall.

"Thirty-three?" Fili and Kili gapped at her.

Bilbo nodded.

"Yes."

"But – but," Kili spluttered, "You're still just a babe!"

Bilbo shot him her best 'mother-not-impressed' look that promptly shut him up.

"I may be younger than you by decades, prince of Durin's line, but I have the maturity of one who has centuries on you." She retorted sharply back at him and the dear lad pouted back at her before grinning impishly.

Bilbo rolled her eyes and was quite pleased when the conversation was hastily moved away from her by Balin with one of his epic tales of the dwarrow lords of old.

She excused herself shortly afterwards, when her eyes started to itch and her yawns grew closer and closer together.

She wished them all a goodnight, smiling with pleasure when the gesture was returned by all present, something that had never before occurred. Even Thorin had wished her a goodnight!

She blushed with pleasure before darting off to the pallet that had been set up as her own, in a corner of the hall with a sheet hanging from the roof to give her some privacy.

Once safely tucked behind the sheet screen she pulled off her father's ruined red walking coat, humming to herself that she must fix some of the tears before they set off again.

She placed the coat carefully over her mother's travel pack, placing her bridal wreath on top of it a moment later before curling up on her side beneath the beautiful, soft woollen blanket.

It was so lovely to be indoors, in a nice warm bed, she thought as she toyed with her mother's wedding band from where it hung on the cord around her neck.

Her mind momentarily drifted to the other ring, the one she had found in Gollum's cave (as she was labelling it) that lay heavy within her vest pocket, but she pushed it away. That ring meant little to her beside from it saving her life with its ability to turn one invisible. It held very little value compared to the one that hung around her throat.

She closed her eyes, feeling the tears of old grief momentarily swell behind her eyelids before she pushed the sensation away. It still amazed her that even after all this time just how deeply her mother's death still affected her.

Rubbing her eyes free of tears, she curled more tightly upon her side and tried to sleep. And when Bofur stuck his head around her curtain, he found her sleeping soundly, her hand still clasped tightly around the ring at her throat


End file.
